Starbucks’ Korean sales fall after backlash to ‘Tank Day’ ad campaign

Coffee chain has seen ‘very significant’ drop in sales after campaign that evoked deadly crackdown, local operator says.Starbucks-korea" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="129424" data-entity-type="organization">Starbucks Korea has suffered a “very significant” drop in sales after a marketing campaign that evoked a brutal 1980 military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters triggered a public outcry, according to the coffee chain’s local operator.Shinsegae Group, whose subsidiary E-Mart owns the coffee chain in South Korea, has faced mounting criticism over its so-called “Tank Day” campaign, launched on the anniversary of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising, when the military government deployed troops and tanks to suppress pro-democracy demonstrations.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Hajj pilgrims arrive near Mecca ahead of Arafah Daylist 2 of 4How Nigeria’s economic strain is changing Eid spendinglist 3 of 4Istanbul’s Bilgi University reopened after police crackdownlist 4 of 4Netanyahu vows to ‘smite’ Hezbollah with ‘overwhelming’ forceend of listIn a news conference on Tuesday, Shinsegae Group chairman Chung Yong-jin made a public apology and asked people not to take out any anger on Starbucks-korea" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="129424" data-entity-type="organization">Starbucks Korea employees and front-line staff.“I take it very seriously, the fact that many people felt deep pain and anger because of Starbucks-korea" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="129424" data-entity-type="organization">Starbucks Korea’s inappropriate marketing campaign,” Chung said.“I will take all responsibility for the incident.”Chung also asked people not to take out their frustration on staff at Starbucks shops, saying the responsibility lies with management. There were no immediate reports of major incidents at stores.Chung issued his first apology on May 19, saying in a statement that the campaign caused “deep pain to the victims and bereaved families of the May 18 Democratization Movement as well as to the public”.Shinsegae fired the head of Starbucks-korea" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="129424" data-entity-type="organization">Starbucks Korea last week after apologising over the campaign. Starbucks-global" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="134054" data-entity-type="organization">Starbucks Global also apologised and said that an investigation had begun.A Shinsegae official said sales had fallen sharply since the marketing controversy.