Delivery workers pick up food parcels from restaurants on a street in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on June 17, 2025. [YONHAP]
Delivery workers have launched a boycott and a “delivery refusal campaign” against Starbucks Korea over controversy surrounding the company’s “Tank Day” promotion.
“We declare to boycott and refuse to deliver Starbucks products in protest against Starbucks’ mockery of the May 18 Gwangju Democratic Movement,” said the delivery platform workers’ union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ service industry federation in a statement Thursday.
“Through a promotion titled ‘Tank Day,’ Starbucks Korea turned the memory of Gwangju citizens being massacred by martial law troops backed by armored vehicles and tanks into a coffee marketing tool,” the union said. “It was not simply a marketing mistake, but the result of either ignorance of history or deliberate disregard for it. Neither can be tolerated.”
The union also said some of its members are from Gwangju and others have parents from the same generation as the “May Mothers,” referring to mothers of victims of the Gwangju Democratization Movement.
“Refusing to deliver coffee containing historical mockery is both a worker’s right and the minimum moral responsibility as citizens,” the union said.
The group added that it would immediately begin a boycott and delivery refusal campaign targeting Starbucks Korea.
Earlier this week, Starbucks Korea came under fire earlier after using phrases such as “Tank Day” and “Tak! on the desk” during a tumbler promotion event on Monday.
People walk by a Starbucks in Seoul on May 20 [JOONGANG ILBO]
People accused the expressions of evoking the deployment of armored vehicles by martial law troops during the Gwangju Democratization Movement and the 1987 torture death of student activist Park Jong-cheol, referencing the false explanation given at the time by then-National Police Headquarters Chief Kang Min-chang.
Park, a Korean university student, was detained and tortured by police in January 1987, which led to the student’s death.
At the time, Kang falsely claimed that Park “died with an 'ugh' after a 'tak' on the desk.” Tak is a Korean onomatopoeia used to describe a sharp sound, often from one object hitting another, similar to the English language's “bang.”
President Lee Jae Myung also criticized the promotion on X on Monday, calling it “an inhumane act” that denies the values of the Korean community and democracy.
As criticism intensified, Shinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin dismissed Starbucks Korea CEO Sohn Jeong-hyun and issued a public apology.
“It was an inexcusable act that trivialized the sacrifices of those who devoted themselves to democracy,” Chung said.
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