{"id":575333,"date":"2026-08-05T08:06:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T08:06:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/575333\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T08:06:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T08:06:39","slug":"south-korean-police-raid-starbucks-korea-headquarters-in-latest-twist-over-disastrous-ad-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/575333\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korean police raid Starbucks Korea headquarters in latest twist over disastrous ad campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The headquarters of Starbucks Korea was raided by South Korean police on Wednesday, as they continue to investigate the coffee chain that faced a nationwide backlash and publicity crisis over a disastrous ad campaign.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n The Seoul metropolitan police confirmed to CNN they had searched the headquarters in relation to the upcoming Liberation Day next week, a public holiday marking South Korea\u2019s liberation from Japanese colonization during WWII \u2013 but declined to share further details.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s the latest headache for Starbucks in South Korea after an ill-timed ad campaign several months ago sparked public anger, forcing it to apologize and fire an executive.\n <\/p>\n

\n The crisis began in May, when Starbucks Korea \u2013 which is licensed to and managed largely by Korean conglomerate Shinsegae Group \u2013 launched a \u201cTank Day\u201d marketing campaign to promote what it called its \u201cTank\u201d line of tumblers.\n <\/p>\n

\n But it was unveiled on the same day as Democratization Movement Day, which commemorates the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, when more than 100 civilians were killed during pro-democracy demonstrations led by students during an era of military rule.\n <\/p>\n

\n The brutal crackdown lives in many people\u2019s memories and is a sensitive topic in a country that has worked hard over many decades to transition from authoritarianism to democracy.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s also one reason the Korean public reacted so quickly and furiously when then-President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law in December 2024, prompting hundreds of protesters \u2013\u2013 including some who had participated in the 1980 uprising \u2013\u2013 to rush to parliament demanding the declaration be rescinded.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Starbucks campaign in May provoked criticism from South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who was elected after Yoon\u2019s impeachment and said he was \u201cenraged\u201d by the campaign, Reuters reported.\n <\/p>\n

\n Starbucks Korea issued a formal apology that day, shortly followed by Starbucks Global, which said an investigation had begun into what went wrong. The day after the campaign launch, Shinsegae Group fired the CEO of Starbucks Korea, citing \u201cinappropriate marketing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The company has since seen a significant drop in sales, and has been in damage control mode \u2013 including shutting all its stores in South Korea for an afternoon in June so staff could undergo mandatory training on historical awareness and social sensitivity.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The headquarters of Starbucks Korea was raided by South Korean police on Wednesday, as they continue to investigate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":575334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,85,46],"class_list":["post-575333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}