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howard schultz starbucks
(Howard Schultz.Stephen Brashear / Stringer / Getty Images)
Starbucks' brand has taken a beating since the company announced plans to hire 10,000 refugees worldwide in the next five years in response to Donald Trump's executive order intended to prevent refugees from entering the US.
The coffee giant's consumer perception levels have fallen by two-thirds since late January, according to YouGov BrandIndex.
The perception tracker measures if respondents have "heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative." In Starbucks' case, perception is still overall positive, but significantly lower than it was prior to CEO Howard Schultz published a public letter outlining the company's plans to give refugees jobs.
"We are living in an unprecedented time, one in which we are witness to the conscience of our country, and the promise of the American Dream, being called into question," CEO Howard Schultz wrote in a letter to Starbucks employees about the plan.
The graphic below shows YouGov's brand perception since October of last year. The red arrow points to when Starbucks announced its plan to hire 10,000 refugees.
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starbucks perception
(YouGov/Business Insider)
YouGov says that there's reason to believe backlash will impact the chain's bottom line. Two days before Starbucks' announcement, 30% of consumers said they'd consider buying from Starbucks the next time they were craving coffee, the highest proportion in nearly a year. Now, the percentage is down to 24%, according to YouGov.
While many customers were immediately supportive of Starbucks' actions to support refugees, others threatened to boycott.
"Upon hearing about your decision to hire 10000 refugees instead of Americans I will no longer spend any money at Starbucks," one such Facebook user wrote on Starbucks' page in late January.
Some of this resentment seemed to be rooted in a belief that Starbucks was hiring refugees instead of veterans. Starbucks, however, does have a program in place to support veterans and their families, hiring 8,000 veterans and military spouses since 2014 — an initiative the chain has attempted to highlight in recent days and weeks online and on social media.
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GT3
yesterday
My wife and I have boycotted
Cardinal
yesterday
Stay out of politics. We with the money want nothing to do with you.
Ingleside
yesterday
How can this be? I thought everyone loves illegal immigrants and hates trump? Oh wait did I fall victim to fake news? Starbucks is overrated and over confident. This is exactly what happens when complacency sets in.....
Brian
yesterday
I will never patronize starbucks again - unless they fire their CEO and get their priorities right.
everyday american
yesterday
Schultz is ignorant and has a big mouth. Poor choice for CEO
MANGLER
yesterday
Starbuck's CEO opens big mouth on immigration that nobody really wants. Guess what happens,,,, Duh, your sales image drops and guess what your sales drops along with it. People just don't like paying $10.00 for a cup of coffee and allowing you to hire some legal and some illegal immigrants and the later is what we do not want here let a lone you pocketing bigger bucks in your pocket. :-(
D
yesterday
Hire an ADDITIONAL 10,000 veterans and their spouses, and NO REFUGEES. Originally the term he used was immigrants...
None
yesterday
LOL. Should have never believed the establishment media that border enforcement is unpopular.
P
Patrick Bateman
yesterday
These things happen when one forgets its place in the world.....making a great cup of burned coffee is one thing playing politics is another. And Starbucks should stick with the prior not the latter.
Inflammateur
yesterday
Whenever you take side on a political issue, you are going to upset half of your potential customers. The best way is to not even bring that issue up. If you are going to hire refugees based on your belief, do it quietly
