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Wed, 05 Aug 2026

Wed, 05 Aug 2026 Police raid Starbucks Korea headquarters over 'Tank Day' fiasco

People have filed complaints against Starbucks for allegedly making light of the deadly Gwangju Uprising.

* South Korean police raided Starbucks national headquarters over defamation claims related to a marketing campaign called "Tank Day".
* The campaign was launched in May on the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, where hundreds were killed by military forces.
* Many saw the term "tank" as a reference to the vehicles used to crush pro-democracy protesters and sparked a mass boycott movement against Starbucks.
* Starbucks quickly rolled back the promotion, but civic groups filed a complaint, accusing the company of defaming victims of the military dictatorship.
* An internal investigation by Shinsegae Group (operator of Starbucks in Korea) concluded that the mistake was unintentional, but the upper management had failed to spot it.
* The "Tank Day" controversy led to a decline in sales for Starbucks in South Korea and the sacking of its chief executive.
* Promotional material for the tumbler campaign also used the phrase "tak on the table!", which mimicked the sound of an object being slapped on a surface, similar to a phrase used by police in 1987 describing the death of a student activist in custody.
* South Korea's president Lee Jae Myung and other politicians criticized the campaign, leading to a government-level boycott of Starbucks.
* The controversy also made appearances in right-wing rallies and livestreams.