STARBUCKS’ ARMENIAN FAUX PAS
EurasiaNet.org
Feb 20 2015
February 20, 2015 – 10:33am, by Giorgi Lomsadze
Amidst an angry backlash from Armenian-Americans, Starbucks has
removed from cafes around Los Angeles artwork depicting women in
Armenian national dress under Turkish flags.
The coffee chain was apparently attempting to cater to LA’s large
ethnic Armenian community , but anyone with a smattering of an
understanding of Armenian-Turkish relations — or of Google searches
— could see how displaying such a poster could go awfully wrong;
especially ahead of the centennial commemoration of the slaughter of
over a million ethnic Armenians in Turkey.
With the centennial planned for April 24, the century-old dispute
about whether or not the killings amounted to genocide has reached
a fever-pitch. Armenia already has withdrawn from a largely defunct
reconciliation plan with Turkey.
The Armenian National Committee for America, a Diaspora group,
launched a social-media campaign at #boycottstarbucks deeming the art
“Tasteless!” and calling for the coffee-colossus to remove the photos
and apologize.
The outpouring reportedly prompted the company to do just that. “We
missed the mark here and we apologize for upsetting our customers
and the community,” Starbucks representative said in comments to an
Armenian-American news service, Asbarez.
In separate comments to RFE/RL, the company stated that it is working
to make sure “this image is not in any other Starbucks locations.”
With the centennial approaching, more controversy is like to come.
Although, this time, from a comic-book publisher.
Devil’s Due, a North American comic-book publisher that says it
“embraces new, even risky concepts,” announced a comic-strip project
for April dedicated to the World-War-I-era Armenian tragedy. The
plot is based on real events; namely, the 1921 assassination of
controversial Turkish leader Talaat Pasha by an Armenian revolutionary,
Soghomon Tehlirian.
How Devil’s Due decided on the idea is not clear, but PR was the goal
for a pan-Armenian flash-mob slotted for April. The project calls
on Armenians to film themselves, lit candle in hand, inviting other
ethnic Armenians to travel to Armenia in April to light a candle
together in memory of the events of 1915.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
