SEOUL: The head of Starbucks Korea has been fired after a marketing campaign sparked public outrage for evoking painful memories of a brutal military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1980.
Shinsegae Group, the retail conglomerate that licenses and manages the US coffee chain in South Korea, said it had sacked Sohn Jeong-hyun, the head of Starbucks Korea, for carrying out “inappropriate marketing.” Sohn’s dismissal came hours after Starbucks launched its “Tank Day” campaign on Monday promoting what it called its “Tank” line of tumblers with the tagline “put it on the table with a sound of ‘Tak!’”
Monday also marked Democratization Movement Day, which commemorates the student-led Gwangju Uprising of May 1980, and the campaign drew strong criticism in South Korea.
Hundreds of people are estimated to have died or gone missing when the military dictatorship of Chun Doo-hwan deployed troops and tanks to crack down on the protests. Many details remain unconfirmed, including who gave the order to open fire on the protesters.
Chun finally stepped down in 1988 amid growing calls for democracy.
