Boycotting Starbucks has become a trend in recent months, attempting to make stores go out of business out of backlash from the company’s recent response to the Israel and Palestine conflict.

Prior to Starbucks’ statement, employees have created a union, the Starbucks Workers Union, in order to combat unfair treatment they have been receiving in recent years. Starbucks Workers Union made a recent statement on social media platform X, reading “Solidarity with Palestine”, in response to another post, and shortly deleting the post after receiving backlash. Starbucks released their own statement regarding this: “We unequivocally condemn these acts of terrorism, hate and violence, and disagree with the statements and views expressed by Workers United and its members.” Followed by “Worker’s United’s words and actions belong to them, and them alone.”

Starbucks’ executive vice president and chief partner officer, Sara Kelly, claimed that the name “Starbucks Workers Union” confuses customers, prompting Starbucks’ suing of the union (CNN). This conflict is nothing new, as Starbucks has already expressed its disapproval of the union.

Inevitably Starbucks received an immense amount of backlash for these actions and statements, leading to customers and employees boycotting the store, disapproving of the company’s values.

It has become a trend on social media platforms such as Instagram, X and especially TikTok, for large and small creators to promote boycotting Starbucks and taking their business elsewhere. On X, there has been an influx of posts showcasing empty stores and protests outside of certain shops.