Is That ‘Dumb Starbucks’ Just A Marketing Ploy?

  • 1 min read
dumb_starbucks.jpg

Last Friday in LA’s Los Feliz neighborhood, a coffee shop named Dumb Starbucks Coffee opened. Over thew weekend, the store has become a sensation with long lines. On the menu are items like Dumb Vanilla Blond Roast, Dumb Caramel Machiatto and Dumb Chai Tea Latte. The store even has its own line of music with titles such as Dumb Norah Jones Duets and Dumb Taste of Cuba.

A Starbucks spokesman told the Wall Street Journal the store is unaffiliated with the brand.

But is it? It’s quite clear that some brand with deep pockets is behind this stunt. Over the weekend, everything in the store was free. How long can some random coffee shop survive like that?

A detailed FAQ, available in the store, explains Dumb Starbucks Coffee is a real business and has categorized itself as a work of parody rather than a coffee shop so as to avoid legal issues. Whether or not that distinction can withstand legal scrutiny is a question for the lawyers.

But it’s clear, at least in out mind, this is a marketing stunt with some money behind it.

Picture of Steve Hall

Steve Hall

RECENT ARTICLES
Strange

Dad Uses Hot Daughter to Sell Car on eBay
Industry Events

Internet Week Summarized Infographic-Style
Industry Events

Charlotte Gets Social With SocialFresh
Opinion

Why Advertising Will Never Portray Reality
Cause

iPad Drinkspirated, Games Socialized, Honda Gets Naughty
Celebrity

Streakers Pimp Briefs, Politician Gets Clean, Naomi Campbell Sexes Up

Load more

TRENDING AROUND THE WEB

Many women in their seventies say the decade feels better than their thirties, forties, or fifties, not because there is more time now, but because they finally stopped needing a thesis defense to justify disappointing someone with a simple no.

Many women in their seventies say the decade feels better than their thirties, forties, or fifties, not because there is more time now, but because they finally stopped needing a thesis defense to justify disappointing someone with a simple no.

Global English Editing
8 habits of people who never seem bothered by long waits or delays

8 habits of people who never seem bothered by long waits or delays

Hack Spirit
Writing a list by hand forces you to choose what matters — typing lets you skip that step

Writing a list by hand forces you to choose what matters — typing lets you skip that step

Global English Editing
A study testing more than three million people’s cognitive skills found that while raw processing speed peaks in your late teens, the skill of accurately reading other people’s emotional states from a photo or a tone of voice kept improving for decades longer, quietly overturning what many people assume about their own minds as they age

A study testing more than three million people’s cognitive skills found that while raw processing speed peaks in your late teens, the skill of accurately reading other people’s emotional states from a photo or a tone of voice kept improving for decades longer, quietly overturning what many people assume about their own minds as they age

Global English Editing
If you want time alone to feel restful instead of lonely, say goodbye to these 7 habits

If you want time alone to feel restful instead of lonely, say goodbye to these 7 habits

Hack Spirit
9 phrases people use when they are apologising properly instead of performing it

9 phrases people use when they are apologising properly instead of performing it

Hack Spirit
Load more