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Cara.gracie

graphic designer at skirt! Charlotte

Carefree and free-spirited, determined and focused, organized yet love the “life” in busy surroundings. I crave creativity in every aspect of my life and am enthusiastic about all forms of it. I have an eclectic taste and love for things old that can be made new and sometimes wonder why I wasn�...

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Take another look at Starbucks

So today, while I waited for our pages for the June issue to upload to our printer, I was feeling a little sluggish. I realized that caffeine had not been included in my daily routine. I came into the office this morning and opted for water instead of caffeine.

Because I am trying to drink less coffee and more tea and water, I finally decided to have some tea so that I would snap out of my morning haze. That one cup of tea turned into Aleigh picking up some Starbucks for me after her afternoon meeting.

Being the designer that I am, as soon as she handed me my Skinny Vanilla Latte, I noticed that the infamous Starbucks logo was different. The entire logo is brown and the illustration of the mermaid is now actually quite disturbing. Instantly, Aleigh and I got into a conversation about this new portrayal of the Starbucks mermaid. Check it out for yourself.

Wanting an instant answer, I googled the new, apparently old, logo. This was the explanation of the split tailed mermaid, “This time, she is a messenger for Chairman Howard Schultz, who is trying to restore some of the goodwill and warm feelings for the brand that have gone by the wayside because of increasing coffee prices, machine-made lattes, and bad press. Starbucks plans to use the logo on all its cups for about eight weeks. It will remain in ads and as the logo for Pike Place bags of coffee.”

Now we can see the entire illustration, when before the twin-tailed mermaid’s entire body was not shown in the trademark logo we all know. I know that not all logos make sense, but this change really has me wondering. I would really love to hear  your thoughts about this portrayal of a woman. Do you find it as offensive and a little disturbing as we do??