Starbucks Stock Price Falls Amidst Boycott Calls

Since the outbreak of the Israeli-Hamas war on October 7, 2023, there have been numerous calls for boycotts against pro-Israel companies.

One of the targets of these boycotts is Starbucks, the American coffeehouse chain.

The calls for a Starbucks boycott stem from various factors, including disagreements between the company's labor union and management.

In October 2023, shortly after the Israeli-Hamas war erupted, a social media account on X named Starbucks Workers United posted tweets stating "Solidarity with Palestine!" and "Once again, free Palestine."

However, Starbucks management stated that the tweets were not from their official labor union. Management also referred to the support for Palestine as "misinformation."

"We strongly disagree with the views of the group claiming to be Starbucks Workers United," Starbucks management said in a press release (October 17, 2023).

"That group does not represent Starbucks Coffee Company and does not represent the views, positions, or beliefs of our company," Starbucks management added.

Although Starbucks did not explicitly express support for Israel, this led many to believe the company was on the Zionist side. Calls for a boycott of their products subsequently emerged.

These calls were evident on TikTok, where the hashtag #boycottstarbucks increased dramatically since October 2023.

According to data from the TikTok Creative Center, during the period of November-December 2023, the hashtag #boycottstarbucks appeared in approximately 9,000 video posts globally. Users of the hashtag were primarily from Bahrain, Canada, the US, Malaysia, and Qatar.

Concurrently, Starbucks' stock price has fallen since mid-November 2023, as shown in the graph.

As of Wednesday, December 6, 2023, its stock price was at US$97.02. This represents an increase of approximately 1.5% compared to the previous day, but it is still 6.7% lower than a month ago.