Major foreign media outlets prominently covered Starbucks Korea's "May 18 Tank Day" marketing controversy, which prompted Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin to issue a public apology.
The Associated Press placed an article featuring a photo of Chairman Chung bowing his head at the top right of its homepage on Monday (local time). The AP reported that Starbucks' marketing was seen as mocking the victims of the May 18 Democratization Movement, and that Chung, head of one of South Korea's retail conglomerates, had issued his second apology in two weeks.
Reuters and Bloomberg focused on the sales decline. In an article titled "Starbucks' Korea sales plunge after Tank Day marketing backlash," Reuters cited a Shinsegae official saying sales had dropped "very significantly."
Bloomberg also reported that Starbucks Korea's sales were expected to fall "substantially," noting that Korea is the chain's third-largest market after the United States and China. The outlet reported that stores in central Seoul were noticeably empty over the weekend, and that social media was flooded with posts showing gift card refunds. As a result, Starbucks products, which had previously held top rankings on KakaoTalk's gift shop, fell out of the top 15 as of that day.
Japanese media focused on the Korean government's response. Major Japanese outlets, including the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei), used headlines stating that the Korean government had declared a boycott of Starbucks. Jiji Press reported that while the president, government, and ruling party were condemning Starbucks, the main conservative opposition People Power Party pushed back, calling the response a "people's tribunal." Jiji analyzed that the issue had emerged as a point of contention between the ruling and opposition parties ahead of the June 3 local elections.
The controversy began when Starbucks Korea released a "Tank" tumbler on May 18, the anniversary of the May 18 Democratization Movement, naming the day "Tank Day" and using the promotional phrase "Tak on the desk!" (chaeksang-e tak).
Critics argued that "tank" evoked the military suppression by martial law forces during the May 18 uprising, while "tak on the desk" recalled the 1987 torture death of activist Park Jong-chul, with public outrage spreading over what was seen as a trivialization of historical tragedies.
Chairman Chung issued a written apology the day after the controversy on May 19 and dismissed Sohn Jung-hyun, the former CEO of Starbucks Korea, along with executives in charge of planning and oversight. However, as the boycott movement, criminal complaints, and moves toward class-action damages lawsuits continued to spread, Chung ultimately decided to issue a direct apology.
At a press conference held at the Josun Palace in Seoul's Gangnam district, Chung said he took seriously the fact that many people had felt deep pain and anger due to the inappropriate marketing. He added that he would offer no excuses and that all responsibility for the incident lay with him.
Immediately after the apology, during a Q&A session with Shinsegae officials, a group representative acknowledged that the impact on sales had been substantial when asked, but added that healing for those affected and restoring trust were currently a higher priority than sales.
Chung also pledged to fundamentally review the company's internal systems and risk management framework and to raise its standards for social responsibility.
