Left: President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a Cabinet meeting on May 12, 2026. Right: A promotional image for Starbucks Korea’s “Tank” series of tumblers. (via Starbucks website)
Starbucks Korea is facing intense criticism for making light of the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement on its 46th anniversary with ad copy for a promotional event evocative of the bloody 1980 massacre. Starbucks Korea began the sale of its “Tank” tumbler series at 10 am on Monday, May 18. To promote the product, the coffee chain launched a promotional campaign on its website with the slogan “Tank Day.” The date “5/18” was placed above and below the “Tank Day” slogan, and the promotion also included the phrase “Thunk on your desk!” Criticism was immediate, quickly spreading across online forums and social media, with many pointing out that the “Tank Day” slogan evoked the tanks used by Chun Doo-hwan’s military regime to brutally quash the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju. The “Thunk on your desk” phrase was also criticized for evoking the death of Park Jong-cheol, a student protester who died after being tortured by the police in 1987.South Korean President Lee Jae Myung upbraided the company, saying that he was “outraged at the inhumane behavior of low-class peddlers,” while civic groups and political figures lambasted the coffee chain for belittling a tragic era in Korea’s history for a marketing scheme, calling for an official apology. “Mocking the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement victims and the bloodstained struggles of the survivors on the historical anniversary of that movement by launching an event called ‘5/18 Tank Day?’ What could have possibly driven someone to do such a thing when so many innocent lives were lost that day, and the damages it wrought to our sense of justice and history were so grave?” Lee wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.Many civic groups and political figures joined in the criticism. The Gwangju-Jeonnam Memorial Coalition, an organization for martyrs and victims who lost their lives fighting for Korea’s democracy, condemned the company in a statement issued that day. “This is clearly a historical disaster that has reduced our democracy’s bloodstained history to a malicious mockery for commercial marketing. That they chose to launch this campaign on this particular day has only deepened the anguish felt by the bereaved families of victims and all the people of Gwangju,” the statement read. The Democratic Party’s election headquarters also criticized the campaign in a commentary.“To the people of Gwangju, tanks represent the excruciating pain of the state violence by the military regime, and the phrase ‘Thunk on your desk’ recalls the cover-up of the torture and death of Park Jong-cheol,” the commentary read.
