SEATTLE (MEDIA GENERAL) — Remember last year’s red cup controversy? Starbucks has made sure it won’t happen again, debuting 13 winter- and holiday-themed red cups Thursday.
The 13 designs were created by customers from across the world and include images of holiday lights, snowflakes and snow-covered trees, as well as Christmas scenes featuring reindeer and sleighs.
Last year, Starbucks’ two-tone ombre red cups caused quite a stir on social media because they weren’t decorated for the holiday as they had been in previous years.
Some critics called the cups another example of the ongoing “war on Christmas.”
Joshua Feuerstein, an American evangelist and former pastor, claimed Starbucks “removed Christmas” from their cups. His video rant was viewed more than 17 million times on Facebook.
“We hope that this year’s red holiday cup designs express the shared spirit of the holidays as told by our customers,” said Sharon Rothstein, Starbucks global chief marketing officer, said in a release.
The 13 distinct cups are now in more than 25,000 Starbucks stores in 75 countries for the 2016 holiday season.
