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A Tall (Maybe Grande) Order of Corporate Responsibility

Remember that awkward moment when Starbucks announced their “Race Together” campaign? While some responded with “Can I just have my coffee now?”, others questioned their corporate authenticity in the fight for ending racism in America. Sometimes, regardless of honest intent, when a corporation attempts corporate responsibility, the public can be skeptical. When Starbucks tried to force virality, most customers rejected participation.

However, it seems that Starbucks is finally getting some positive recognition for their philanthropic efforts. Better late than never, right? Creating this positive attention is a video that has already generated over 6.2 million views in less than two days since its posting. The trending video was not posted by Starbucks, but by a satisfied customer at a Florida chain location.

To her surprise, Rebecca King, came to the local Starbucks and was greeted by a barista on video screen who began to use American Sign Language (ASL) to speak with the customer who is deaf. The next day, Rebecca returned to Starbucks to record the experience and post it to Facebook.

Starbucks was not advertising a video on their growing additions of digital screens to attract positive attention. Instead, a member of the deaf community acknowledged their commitment to catering to the deaf community and personally saw to it that Starbucks was recognized for their honest corporate responsibility.

Thanks for your coffee and kindness, Starbucks.