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Why Starbucks’ Christmas Cups Are Special This Year

By
Dominique Rowe
Dominique Rowe
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By
Dominique Rowe
Dominique Rowe
Down Arrow Button Icon
November 10, 2016, 12:25 AM ET

After last year’s minimalist red cup caused a not-so-festive storm, Starbucks (SBUX) has opted for a more decorative approach to this year’s Christmas coffee cups.

Featuring 13 more traditionally festive designs, the cups were created by 13 women from six countries, including the U.S, Indonesia, Dubai, Canada, Russia and South Korea. By choosing several motifs, the company has for the first time abandoned its 24-year-old one-cup campaign approach, Mashable reports.

“This year, […] we decided to do something quite different,” said CEO Howard Schultz to a crowd at the official launch in Manhattan on Wednesday. “With everything that’s going on in the world, and everything that’s going on in our country, we have a lot to be thankful for,” he said, on the same day that Donald Trump was elected President.

The highly decorative red and white cups were picked from a crowd-sourced selection of over 1,000 customer designs on Instagram last year, and will officially hit 25,000 Starbucks locations in 75 counties on Nov. 10.

Starbucks unveils 2016 holiday red cups https://t.co/ZVy32ZUCHI Meet the designers too https://t.co/fo4rBYYiOR#RedCupspic.twitter.com/oMgV510Hr3

— Starbucks News (@StarbucksNews) November 9, 2016

Earlier this week, Fortune’s Lucinda Shen reported that aside from the 13 cups, the coffee giant would also be standing by its non-denominational plain red cup — only this year, with a customer-friendly sweetener: anyone who orders a holiday drink from Nov. 10-14 between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. will get a free holiday drink.

For more on Starbucks, watch Fortune’s video:

“We hope that this year’s red holiday cup designs express the shared spirit of the holidays as told by our customers,” said Starbucks’ global chief marketing officer Sharon Rothstein in a press release.

About the Author
By Dominique Rowe
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