Shaq's Starbucks misstep: ‘Black people don’t drink coffee'

[stb]

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/09/14/shaq-black-people-dont-drink-coffee-passed-on-endorsement-deal-with-starbucks/?intcmp=hpbt3

[PhoSita]

Bold statement by Shaq.

Almost as bold as I like my coffee in the morning.

Seeing as Kenya is one of the major producers of coffee worldwide, I'm guessing the statement is false.

[Lucky17]

Yirgacheffe.

[D.o.s.]

The actual context:

"So Howard comes and says, 'Shaq, I wanna give you the opportunity to go in with me and open up these Starbucks franchises in African American communities,'" Shaq says during his interview with Bensinger. "And I'm always the guy that, if I don't believe in it, I can't do it. Will never do it. No amount of money can make me endorse something that I'm not 100 percent behind. So I looked in the great Howard Schultz's face and said, 'Black people don't drink coffee, sir. I don't think it's gonna work.' You should have seen his face. He was like…alright. We're still good friends today, but that was one of my worst business decisions."

http://www.complex.com/sports/2015/09/shaq-missed-out-making-millions-dollars-starbucks-because-he-didnt-think-black-people-drank-coffee

[Roy H.]

At least he sees the stupidity of it. 

You have to wonder about Shaq's agent and financial advisers at the time.  I understand the "I don't invest unless I believe in the product" line of thinking, but he (presumably) pay somebody around him to help him with these decisions.

[D.o.s.]

Also: Does this mean Shaq stands by Kazaam?

[BudweiserCeltic]

Also: Does this mean Shaq stands by Kazaam?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f9IgOjZjn4

[PhoSita]

The idea behind "black people don't drink coffee" might simply be that black communities tend to have less money to spare than white communities, and coffee is a relatively expensive luxury if you're tight on money.

At least Shaq recognizes it was a dumb decision.

[Roy H.]

The idea behind "black people don't drink coffee" might simply be that black communities tend to have less money to spare than white communities, and coffee is a relatively expensive luxury if you're tight on money.

It sounds like Shaq was just basing it on his family experience.  His family drank sweet tea and hot chocolate, so he made some assumptions, I guess.

[clover]

The idea behind "black people don't drink coffee" might simply be that black communities tend to have less money to spare than white communities, and coffee is a relatively expensive luxury if you're tight on money.

At least Shaq recognizes it was a dumb decision.

Yep. You see fewer Starbucks in poor white neighborhoods than in at least reasonably affluent ones. Shaq was probably right about poor black neighborhoods--but he missed the good number of affluent black ones.

[Celtics4ever]

in the military people from every group drank coffee from time to time.  There were some teetotalers but they were not the norm, especially if you pulled over night duty.   Heck, I drank it then and back then I did not drink it.

[PhoSita]

The idea behind "black people don't drink coffee" might simply be that black communities tend to have less money to spare than white communities, and coffee is a relatively expensive luxury if you're tight on money.

It sounds like Shaq was just basing it on his family experience.  His family drank sweet tea and hot chocolate, so he made some assumptions, I guess.

The irony is that Starbucks and DDs sell a lot of excessively sweet tea drinks and chocolate drinks.  A major portion of their profits probably come from those products.

[GratefulCs]

Yirgacheffe.

yirgacheffe ftw



Combining a yirg and a sumatra is my all time fav

[SHAQATTACK]

Mama always say she take her men's same as her coffee..


"Strong and Dark"

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

I know a couple black people who pay for Starbucks (none who do it regularly) but I know a lot who drink coffee (me). All the people I know who don't buy Starbucks don't skip it b/c of taste, I hear them say, "I'm not paying all that money for a cup of coffee!" I agree with it being more financial than skin color, I know white people who don't buy it for the same reason. I live in Florida, I definitely know more people who drink iced sweet tea than coffee, but that's what we do in the south  .