How Starbucks Korea's Training Exposed a Gap in Global Brand Safety

Starbucks Korea closed all stores June 22 for staff training after a May promotion—a tumbler design—stirred outrage by evoking the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, a dark moment in Korean history. The campaign passed internal review. The incident reveals how global brands often lack cultural-historical safeguards when they hand marketing decisions to local teams. Whether training becomes real process change or stays symbolic remains unclear.