Customers who may have recently dropped into Starbucks with an online coupon that gifts free coffee to people with 'African-American heritage' were likely embarrassed to learn of its inauthenticity. A trending promotion that uses the company's image and likeness to promise a complimentary cup of joe to patrons of a darker hue may be convincing, but it is as fake as a $3 bill.
Users who've come across the coupon on social media are just learning that it has been debunked as a hoax thanks to the research of various fact checkers and sites like Snopes. The meme's creation has been traced back to the anonymous 4chan message board, where it was apparently conceived up on April 17, and went evolving as trolls who came upon the thread pitched ideas and resources to help craft it.
“Here's a fake Starbucks coupon for marginalized folks,” the poster who originally introduced the coupon to the public wrote, adding, "You know what to do." Not long after it went up, numerous followers came through with suggestions to help spruce the design and the messaging up. One individual even went so far as to add a QR code so that it could bear the appearance of a promotion that prospective consumers could pull up on their phones. The code reportedly translated to the n-word.
Starbucks recently announced that it would be closing 8,000 stores for racial bias training after two black men were recently arrested for not buying anything at the coffee house.
Source: nbcnews.com
