Starbucks avoids the cooking dispute by prohibiting the names of the presidential candidates

Enter any Starbucks in South Korea right now and there are some names you definitely won’t hear.

Six to be accurate – and they are the names of the candidates who run in the upcoming presidential race.

This is because Starbucks temporarily blocks customers who order drinks to use those names that will be called by Baristas.

The company said it should “maintain political neutrality during the election season”, adding that this would be canceled after the June 3 election.

South Korean businesses and celebrities usually strive to be considered neutral. But it has become more decisive in recent months, as the political turmoil caused by former President Yon Suk Youol has left the country more divided than ever.

Now, as South Korea is preparing to choose its new president after Ion’s impeachment, even the most Saints can become politicized – Starbucks lesson learned the hard way.

In recent months, there has been an increasing number of customers who order drinks through their application and a key to phrases such as “Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol” or “(opposition leader) Lee Ja-Muung is a spy” like their nicknames.

Starbucks Baristas had a little choice, but to call these names after the drinks were ready to collect.

“Our goal is to make sure that every customer has a lot of experience in our cafes,” Starbucks says in a statement about his new move to ban the names of the six presidential candidates.

“To help this, we sometimes block certain phrases that could be understood by our employees or clients – as the names of political candidates with support or opposition messages during election season to maintain neutrality.”

But this marks the first time it banned the names of all candidates who run in elections. In addition to Lee, the other names are Kim Moon-su, Lee Jun-Syok, Kon Young-Kuk, Hang Kyo-Ann and Song Jin-ho.

Some think the coffee giant takes things too far.

“I think people are too sensitive. What if your real name is the same as the candidate?” -said 33-year-old Gian Hi-Mi.

GE SOK-BIN, 27-year-old, who is regular in Starbucks, said he believed the rule was “too trivial”, although he said he understood the logic behind him considering the country’s increased political tension.

“After (Ion’s impeachment), I’m no longer talking about politics. It is felt that ideological division has grown so much that conversations often turn into arguments.”

Starbucks is not alone. The largest search engine in the country, Naver, has disabled automatic and related proposals to search for candidates, as usual during the election season.

Google search for Lee, who is widely welcomed to win the election, gives phrases like the Lee Jae -myung process – a reference to the fact that he is currently involved in several criminal processes.

The search for the conservative presidential candidate for the country Kim Moon-SU derives a related “transformation” proposal, as it can be seen to have been “turned” by a fervent work to a conservative politician.

Naver said he decided to do this to “provide more accurate and fair information during the election campaign.”

Celebrities and public figures are also extra careful as they are held to high standards of political impartiality. Even the clothes they wear during the election would be highly considered.

Wearing colors such as blue and red – which are respectively the liberal democratic party of the country (DP) and the Conservative People’s Party (PPP) – in the past it was enough to cause an online reaction.

Sometimes even just a baseball cap or tie is enough to provoke accusations of guerrilla support.

During the last 2022 presidential election, Kim He-Chul of the K-Pop Group Super Junior was accused of being a PPP supporter when he was spotted wearing red slippers and a pink mask.

Last year, Shinji, a leading vocalist of the popular Koyote trio, posted a black and white workout photo on Instagram the day before the general election, with the inscription that “take the photo black and white … (after), seeing the color of my sweatshirts.”

“Funny and sad at the same time,” she added.

Some celebrities go even more, deliberately wear a mix of red and blue.

A makeup artist with over a decade experience, working with K-POP stars and actors, told the BBC that during elections, styling teams are focusing on politically symbolic colors.

“We usually stick to neutral tones such as black, white or gray,” said the makeup artist, who refused to be baptized.

Celebrities should even be careful when they hit the pose, she added.

Flying the peace sign for a photo? This can be read as number two – and thus approving a political candidate. In South Korea, election candidates are determined number.

Dr. Cho Jin-man at Women’s University Duksung says it is “important to be able to talk about different things without intersecting the line and to be able to recognize and understand differences.”

But with so much division in the country, he adds that many choose to “remain silent in order to remain politically neutral.”