No, Starbucks Is Not Giving Free Frappuccinos To People Who Say “Black Lives Matter” While Ordering
This isn’t the first time a fake promotion or coupon has been created for Starbucks, and surely it won’t be the last.
A claim went out this week that Starbucks was giving away a free tall Frappuccino to anyone who went into Starbucks and shouted “Black Lives Matter!”.
This fake promotion was claiming to hand out a free Frappuccino to any supporters. And although Starbucks is being very supportive, this promotion is not real.
“Saw this on Twitter and I couldn’t believe if this coupon was real, so I had to go try it myself. I pulled up in the drive thru and calmly said, ‘Black Lives Matter’ The employee said, ‘Thank you, which one would you like today?’” Dan Falconoski posted to Facebook on Wednesday. “I pulled up to the window and presented my phone with this photo… she smiled and handed me my tall caramel Frappuccino!”
Falconoski, who wrote that the promotion had worked for him twice, posted an image of a fake advertisement.
“Black Lives matter! Come to any of our stores shouting these words for a free Frappuccino of your choice,” the fake ad reads. “The louder you shout, the larger the size you’ll get!”
The ad features an image of branded Starbucks cups, a QR code and the company’s trademarked logo. Those commenting were quick to start questioning whether this was a real thing. But within 24 hours, Falconoski’s post had hundreds of likes, almost a thousand comments and more than 8,000 shares.
Commenters on the post were quick to get angry.
“You definitely proved that ppl will say anything to get something,” F Nicole Blackwell commented.
“Do half of y’all even care about what’s going on ?? But y’all screaming black lives matter for a fcking coffee,” Emonie Blackwell commented.
“This is not a valid Starbucks offer,” a Starbucks spokesperson told USA TODAY on Thursday.
“Our customers may confirm any Starbucks promotion, by checking the Starbucks app, reaching out to our customer care line, or asking a Starbucks barista.”
On Saturday, Starbucks posted a letter from CEO and President Kevin Johnson encouraging employees to have “courageous conversations” about race and inclusion. And in a tweet Thursday morning, the international corporation announced its $1 million donation toward racial equity organizations and new publicly available, anti-bias training.
Although this promotion was completely fake, I believe that Starbucks supports the cause and is aiding in the best way they can. It doesn’t take a free drink for me to state what I believe. But here’s to looking for our normal future promotions coming this way like Starbuck’s Bogo, coming back soon!
I would love to talk more about this experience! DM me on facebook.