Viral On Internet: A protest that began six years ago has reignited on the internet, becoming a nightmare for Starbucks after CEO Brian Niccol announced that he would travel 1,600 kilometers daily to the company headquarters in Seattle. Notably, Niccol lives in California and recently stated that instead of relocating to Seattle, he will use a corporate jet to travel to Starbucks’ headquarters daily. This decision of the Starbucks CEO has fumed the internet and reignited the six-year-old protest against the company for banning plastic straws at its all outlets. Notably, in 2018, the American multinational chain of coffeehouses had banned single-use plastic straws from all its stores worldwide and offer strawless lids or eco-friendly straws (paper straws) in a “sustainable innovation.
The announcement angered people and prompted them to express their thoughts on the social media platforms. The posts on X were fille with sarcasm, anger, and humour in some cases. users ridiculed Starbucks CEO Niccol for his sprawling commute, which is causing detrimental effects on our environment.
“So the new CEO of Starbucks gets to use a corporate jet to commute the 1000 miles from Newport Beach to Seattle three times per week. That’s awesome but can we go back to plastic straws then,” a user wrote on X.
“@Starbucks your new CEO will super commute on private jet while you force customers to use paper straw for environmental reasons? What sort of hypocrisy is this?,” asked the second user said.
“Why should I use paper straws if the Starbucks CEO flies to his office on a jet every week?,” another user asked.
It is worth noting that “Hypocrisy” is a word that found a mention in several posts on X (formerly Twitter).
50-year-old Niccol decided to commute daily using his private jet and is expected to camp out at Seattle’s Starbucks office at least three days every week. All this aligns with the company’s hybrid work policy established back in 2023.
Brian Niccol is set to earn an annual salary of $1.6 million, with a potential cash bonus between $3.6 million to $7.2 million that hinged on his job performance. On top of that, he could bring in up to $23 million yearly in equity-based incentives.
