Starbucks Poster Photographer Apologizes to Armenian Community
A screen shot of Timothy Rose’s web site on mobile device
Friday, February 20th, 2015
BY ARA KHACHATOURIAN
Timothy Rose, the photographer responsible for a poster depicting
women in Armenian traditional garb under the Turkish crescent and
star, issued an apology to the Armenian community on his website
Thursday, saying his intentions were not to offend.
“To all the Armenian community, I wish to apologize for the photograph
taken for Starbucks from 2011. Neither I nor the photographer knew the
dancers were Armenian. We were traveling around the world shooting
photojournalistic images for the brand and captured this image during
a festival in 2011 for Ataturk. There was no Photoshopping or models
used. Once it came to my attention that this was rightfully offensive
to the Armenian community, I took the image down. I am in full support
of their plight and would never have knowingly supported any action
that would hurt either them or cause unnecessary pain. My deepest
apologies,” Rose posted on his web site.
The poster, which sprung up on several Starbucks locations around
Southern California and elsewhere in the country, angered Armenians
and prompted them to take to social media to voice their
disappointment at the largest coffee retailer in the world. The
Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region immediately
launched a social media campaign urging followers to document
locations and call Starbucks to complain with #BoycottStarbucks
message.
Starbucks issued an apology and pledged to remove all posters from stores.
In an email to Asbarez, a Starbucks spokesperson said: “Serving as a
place for the community to connect is core to our business and we
strive to be locally relevant in all of our stores. We missed the mark
here and we apologize for upsetting our customers and the community.
We have removed this art in our Mulholland & Calabasas store in
Woodland Hills and are working to make this right,” a Starbucks
spokesperson told Asbarez via email. The spokesperson said that the
company was “looking into this to ensure this image is not in any
other Starbucks locations.”
After the apology and during the entire process one question remained
unanswered: Why did Starbucks, a corporation known for its ethical
positions, opt to put up the posters? Another mystery is why didn’t
the posters show up in any of Starbucks’ Glendale locations, which
have high concentration of Armenian clientele. Several inquiries to
Starbucks on this matter were not answered.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Disclaimer: This article was contributed and translated into English by Emil Lazarian. While we strive for quality, the views and accuracy of the content remain the responsibility of the contributor. Please verify all facts independently before reposting or citing.
Direct link to this article: https://www.armenianclub.com/2015/02/22/starbucks-poster-photographer-apologizes-to-armenian-community/
