This year, Starbucks removed holiday symbols on their seasonal red cups and replaced the festive designs with just a plain red cup. The color of the simplistic design of the holiday cup fades from a bright red to a dark cranberry.

According to CNN Money, Starbucks vice president, Jeffrey Fields said the company, “wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of a design that welcomes all of our stories.” What triggered the controversy of Starbucks’ red cups was when Joshua Feuerstein, a former pastor, posted a video on November 5th to Facebook that went viral. In the video, Feuerstein complains that the coffee company removed the symbols because “they hate Jesus”. Feuerstein’s controversial video reached 10 million views. Starbucks stated that the blank red cup encourages customers to, “tell their Christmas stories in their own way.”
People defended the coffee company by pointing out that Starbucks sells gift cards that say “Merry Christmas” and sells a “Christmas blend”. In a CNBC survey, 62% of voters don’t care about the new Starbucks’ 2015 red cups, 25% of voters like the design, and only 11% don’t like the cups. “I don’t really mind the red cups this year,” a barista said, “they change throughout the years.”

Hollie Quillen, 10th grade, states, “I like Starbucks’ new red cups because it shows that the company accepts people of all diverse and religious backgrounds.”
Many social media apps like Twitter and Instagram had a trending hashtag #merrychristmas, regarding Starbucks’ red cups. “I think people are making the cups a bigger deal than it is. I’m curious to see what Starbucks has for next year,” said Madison Vaughan, 10th grade.