Starbucks hates the troops?
Got this in the mail today (thanks Chris). While I usually don't spend much time on chain-mail this one struck me as particularly odd so if someone has more information please pass it on.
The first thing which strikes me as completely out of character is for a company like Starbucks to take the time to reply to the British Royal Marines only to get completely personal and say that they don't support anyone in the war. Does that sound like a well-oiled corporate machine which, believe me, Starbucks is? Here is the message:Recently, British Royal Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffees, and to request that they send some of it to the troops there. Starbucks replied, telling the Royal Marines thank you for their support of their business, but that Starbucks does not support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand of coffee. So as not to offend Starbucks, maybe we should support them by NOT buying any of their products! I feel we should get this out in the open. I know this war might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn't mean we don't support the boys on the ground, fighting street-to-street and, house-to-house... If you feel the same as I do then please pass this along. Thanks very much for your support. I know you'll all be there again to support us when we deploy once more.Sgt. Howard Wright,
So basically:British Royal Marines: Hello Starbucks we love you and we would love some here in Iraq. Starbucks: We hate you. Screw you and your war. Ha ha!Now, I can only give Sgt. Wright the benefit of the doubt here but to me this sounds like a) either a complete fabrication or b) something that's been slightly exaggerated. If the British Royal Marines and Starbucks ever had this conversation I doubt it would have gone down quite in the fashion that is described above. To the point though, are we actually complaining about the fact that you can't get Starbucks somewhere? Update: Sgt. Wright does exist. This is old news but interestingly, the original Sgt. Wright was an American Marine. Someone purposefully doctored the rumour and in a way localized it for the British market. The plot thickens. This was his follow on e-mail:
Wait, was this an attack on Starbucks attempted without proper intelligence gathering? More here.Dear Readers,
Almost 5 months ago I sent an e-mail to you my faithful friends. I did a wrong thing that needs to be cleared up. I heard by word of mouth about how Starbucks said they didn't support the war and all. I was having enough of that kind of talk and didn't do my research properly like I should have. This is not true. Starbucks supports men and women in uniform. They have personally contacted me and I have been sent many copies of their company's policy on this issue. So I apologize for this quick and wrong letter that I sent out to you.
Now I ask that you all pass this email around to everyone you passed the last one to. Thank you very much for understanding about this.
Howard C. Wright
Sgt USMC
