For the Love of Joe: The Language of Starbucks

Abstract

have become America's public living and dining rooms, or as company founder Howard Schultz describes his stores, ''an extension of people's front porch'' (Serwer and Bonamici). As of January 2004, there were over 7,500 Starbucks locations in 28 countries (Serwer and Bonamici), and based on company predictions, some believe that ''The number of Starbucks locations worldwide could someday rival the total of McDonalds' restaurants'' (Bishop). This paper will examine the ways in which Starbucks' use of language appeals to more than our craving for caffeine. In his book Bobos in Paradise, David Brooks argues that the dominant tone of American culture has been set by America's new educated elite, or ''bobos,'' a term meshing bohemians with bourgeois (11). Brooks notes that bobos have ''combined the countercultural sixties and the achieving eighties into one social ethos . . . .So the people who thrive in this period are the ones who can turn ideas and emotions into products'' (10). Starbucks Corporation has associated coffee with the language of love: self-love, romantic love, and philanthropic love. Starbucks' corporate use of language is carefully crafted to appear as comforting as hot cocoa with ''extra whip,'' as hot as a steamed latte, and as socially conscious as the Fair Trade coffee offered for sale in their stores.The history of coffee production, consumption, and advertising has less to do with love, however, than with conspiracy, colonialism, and capitalism. The drink appears to have been brewed first in Ethiopia, and achieved widespread popularity in the Islamic world during the

Communicating Coffee Culture through the Big Screen: Starbucks in American Movies

“…Lastly, Starbucks attempts to create the unique 'Starbucks experience', even though, in reality, this is part of a monotonous, giant, corporate chain culture. These findings also affirm previous studies on Starbucks coffee culture (Dickinson, 2002;Lyons, 2005;Ruzich, 2008).…”

“…Both the change of shot (from high-angle shot on the Starbucks shop in the city to the close-up shot on one cup of Starbucks coffee) as well as the music sequence leave viewers with the impression that Starbucks is a place that provides energy, hope and a sense of warmth. have mentioned this piece of fictional email (Dickinson, 2002;Denesi, 2008;Ruzich, 2008). What seems important is how Joe's email points out the choices Starbucks offers its consumers: instead of a limited basic flavour of cappuccino, mochaccino, latte, flat white, espresso, hazelnut, vanilla, caramel and cinnamon, like those offered in McCafé and Dunkin' Donuts, one could have nearly twenty choices of luxury and high quality coffee (Knikker, 2005).…”

“…She concludes that by displaying imagery of an 'exotic self', or the use of a mysterious and foreign coffee man, Starbucks intended to 'craft a consumer niche' that represents 'a lifestyle and signifier of good taste'. Other works on Starbucks mainly focus on either its 'brandscape' (Thompson, 2004) or upon rhetoric analysis of Starbucks coffee shops (Dickinson, 2002;Ruzich, 2008). 'The Starbucks Brandscape and Consumers' (Anticorporate) Experience of Glocalization' (2004) by Thompson and Arsel is a study of the meanings communicated through Starbucks' brand and logo in an era of competing globalization and localization.…”

Coffeehouses And The Art Of Social Engagement: An Analysis Of Portland Coffeehouses

“…In 1966, Alfred Peet began selling roasted whole‐bean coffee for home sale in Berkeley, California. Five years later, Starbucks Coffee • Tea • Spice opened for business in Seattle, and joined other specialty outlets such as Gloria Jean's, Coffee Beanery, and Barnie's (Ruzich ). These small businesses offered higher quality, carefully roasted Arabica beans to consumers willing to pay double the price of supermarket brands.…”

“…Despite the historic significance of coffeehouses in promoting social engagement, most contemporary research dealing with coffeehouses in the United States has focused on the emergence of the specialty coffee market in the 1980s (Roseberry ). Researchers have examined Starbucks' store design (Aiello and Dickinson ), the language it uses in its stores (Ruzich ), the factors behind its success (Seaford and others ), as well as its cultural significance as a new form of consumption, in which “mundane mass produced products” are attached with new meaning and higher status (Smith , 506). Only a few researchers have examined how a coffeehouse can foster an environment for social engagement.…”