Starbucks
Starbucks has revealed this year's holiday cups: a series of four designs featuring festive plaid, ornament shapes, and colorful ribbons. Plus, there's a holiday cup for iced beverages, a sign of how important cold drinks are for the company.
This year, the red cups incorporate a pop of magenta to lift the traditional holiday colors. "When we were looking at trends when designing this year's holiday, we kept seeing bright, bold, uplifting colors," Starbucks creative director Kristy Cameron said in a press release.
Starbucks introduced its first holiday cups in 1997 — and they haven't always come in the familiar red. In the first two years, Starbucks used purple along with its whimsical designs. In 1999, the cups donned a festive candy-apple red for the first time, and the rest is history.
Many of these iconic designs were the brainchild of Sandy Nelson, a senior designer at Starbucks from 1997 to 2011.
"What's happened now in popular culture is that the appearance of the red cup signals to people that it's time to celebrate the holidays," said Nelson in a statement. "Who would have thought 25 years ago that would happen?"
The Starbucks holiday cup has generated its share of controversies here and there. In 2017, #BoycottStarbucks trended on social media after a conspiracy theory emerged about the cup's 2017 design supposedly featuring a gay couple holding hands.
Two years earlier, a minimalist, two-toned cup design sparked backlash after a video claiming that Starbucks "removed Christmas from their cups" went viral. The cups were a trending topic for major publications, late-night talk show hosts, and even former president Donald Trump, Insider reported.
Here's a look at Starbucks holiday designs over the years:
