Many employment law and human resource experts are calling Starbucks’ most recent campaign that urged employees to “Race Together”, “absurd” and “irresponsible”.

On March 15th Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, said he wanted to help improve race relations by having baristas write the words “Race Together” on their famous white and green coffee cups.

The campaign was trying to promote conversations about issues such as race relations.  Schultz called the campaign “well-intentioned” right before he abruptly ended it on March 22nd, approximately one week after the launch.  The initiative was ended with a letter written to the employees by Schultz.  In the letter Schultz expressed the empathy he had for the employees and the way they felt about “Race Together”. 

The days leading up to the decision were filled with criticisms about the program.  Many HR experts said the campaign would breed workplace complaints about discrimination, harassment and hostile work environments.  Some critics questioned why the campaign was even created.  It circulated that Starbucks may only have run the campaign to capitalize on sensitive subjects. 

Some HR experts pointed out that a campaign like “Race Together” could make it difficult for the company to discipline employees if the former has expressed certain opinions about race.