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Animal Rights/Vegan Activists' Strategies



Starbucks Drops Non-Dairy Surcharge

From Switch4Good.org
October 2024

On October 30, Starbucks made a groundbreaking announcement that they are finally ditching their plant milk upcharge on November 7th after years of campaigning tips the scales!

starbucks protestors

What made it happen?

Earlier this summer, our outreach to Starbucks leadership exposed the global coffee company’s ultra-secretive baseline shifting of climate goals that was never intended to be disclosed to the public. Starbucks leadership was discovered to engage in data manipulation by changing their reporting baseline when they failed to meet their goals, neglecting to transparently address these changes with the public.

Additionally, we uncovered a pattern of price gouging that disproportionately affected customers of color. The groundbreaking announcement finally puts an end to the company’s policy rooted in a concept known as dietary racism, which has netted Starbucks $1 billion in profits thanks to an astounding upcharge of nearly 800% on plant milk in U.S. stores [see Fighting Dietary Racism in Schools].

After years of outreach to Starbucks corporate leadership to engage in good-faith discussions to remove the upcharge for plant milk—a policy rooted in dietary racism—Starbucks leadership took heed of Switch4Good’s latest campaign at Seattle headquarters and announced their intention to remove the upcharge starting on November 7th at U.S. and Canadian stores.

Throughout this summer and fall, Switch4Good team members have been working with a Starbucks corporate insider, as well as managers and baristas around the U.S., to pressure the coffee giant to drop the upcharge. Dotsie Bausch, Switch4Good's founder, led the charge, authoring a letter to Starbucks’ Senior Leadership. Outreach at major Starbucks locations throughout Seattle, accompanied by a roving billboard imploring Starbucks leadership to drop the upcharge—and one CEO change later — and the company is finally meeting Switch4Good’s years-long demands.

Creating global change

“Uncovering Starbucks' overt corporate greed and their secret climate baseline shifting is what finally tipped the scales in favor of dropping the plant milk upcharge. Starbucks' new CEO certainly didn’t want any of their shady dealings released to their customers or to their board of directors which unveiled layers of climate commitment fraud and price gouging customers.”, said Dotsie.

Prior to Starbucks announcing its intention to cease charging extra for plant milk in the U.S., Switch4Good successfully pressured Starbucks to drop the upcharge in the U.K., Chile, France, Germany, and throughout most of Europe.

This is not just our victory–it's your victory to celebrate, too! Thank you for your unyielding support, messages, generous donations, and thousands of letters you've sent to Starbucks' management. We finally did it–for human health, the animals, and the Earth–together!


Posted on All-Creatures.org: October 31, 2024
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