Starbucks ‘Tank Day’ ad campaign in South Korea sparks backlash

SEOUL, South Korea — The head of Starbucks in South Korea apologized again Tuesday as the company faces sustained public backlash against a marketing campaign widely perceived as mocking those who died for the country’s pro-democracy movement.

SEOUL, South Korea — The head of Starbucks in South Korea apologized again Tuesday as the company faces sustained public backlash against a marketing campaign widely perceived as mocking those who died for the country’s pro-democracy movement.

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The coffee chain, which has been in South Korea since 1999, had planned to start selling a large drink tumbler it calls a “tank” on May 18, declaring it “Tank Day.” May 18 is also the anniversary of a 1980 crackdown by South Korea’s former military dictatorship, in which hundreds of democratic activists in the city of Gwangju were killed or injured by troops, tanks and helicopters.

Making matters worse, the campaign used the slogan “Thwack it on the table,” which for many recalled a 1987 claim by police that student activist Park Jong-chol, rather than being tortured to death, had died suddenly after investigators “hit the desk with a thwack.”