The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) posted on Feb. 18 a picture of women with traditional Armenian gear, holding a Starbucks coffee cup, under the Turkish crescent and star flags on their Facebook account. Under the photo, which was displayed at the Mulholland and Calabasas stores in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles, ANCA posed the question: “Why is Starbucks selling coffee using an image of women, dressed in traditional Armenian costumes, celebrating a Turkish state that systematically victimized Armenian women during the Armenian genocide, and that still denies this crime against all humanity?” Starbucks, known as a rather liberal establishment, promptly issued an apology and removed the posters, which were displayed in a couple of locations in Southern California. The photographer responsible for the design of the poster, Timothy Rose, also issued an apology on his Web page explaining that he had not known the women were Armenian.
When asked for the sentiments of Armenian-Americans about the Starbucks posters, Aram Hamparian, the executive director of ANCA, told Al-Monitor, “We felt that the Starbucks ad inappropriately used images of women dressed in traditional Armenian costumes to glorify a Turkish state that brutally persecuted Armenian women during the Armenian genocide and that still, to this day, denies this crime against all humanity.” Indeed, the reaction was so strong, Hamparian informed Al-Monitor, that the entire campaign to remove the posters lasted about five hours. He said, “Armenian-Americans are generally a highly networked community that follows Armenian issues closely and that is quick to react to misrepresentations in politics, media or advertising. Social media, of course, helps Armenians to more quickly connect to one another and to more effectively communicate our collective concerns. We saw this on the morning of the Starbucks poster. In the course of just a few hours, we were alerted to the ads, developed quick graphics, generated protests, engaged Starbucks and resolved the issue to everyone's satisfaction.”
