I say "officially", because we all know that the Christmas "season" comes around earlier and earlier every year; usually once Halloween is over. This year though, not only did the Christmas season start at the beginning of November, so did all the controversy over the holiday.
By now, I doubt there are many people who haven't heard about the 2015 red Starbuck's cups.
This year however, the company decided to go with a plain red cup. The next thing you know, there's a media frenzy about how Starbucks is against Christmas, and Jesus, you name it.
What a lot of people don't know is, this probably wouldn't have been such a big deal, had it not been for one man, Josh, Feurstein. Feurstein is a self proclaimed disciple of Jesus, and he's the person who declared that Starbucks was anti-Christmas.
Funny thing is, when I saw the red cup, *my* first thought was, "ah, more corporate greed; less printing on the cups saves money for Starbucks, and makes them more profits".
Back to what was happening in the public eye though. People everywhere were buying into the idea that Starbucks was anti-Christmas. There were those who boycotted the franchise because of the cups, as well as those who thought it was okay that the company took a somewhat "neutral" approach to the season.
In between all the yays and nays were those, (myself included), who just didn't care one way or the other about the color and design, or the lack of one. It's a cup, you use it, it gets thrown away.
To me, that was the bigger concern. Even with recycling and all, it's still a cup that gets tossed after one use. And though some are recycled, most just get thrown into trash cans at home or work, or on a street corner, to be added to landfills.
Others took a humorous approach to the cup controversy. Weird Al posted a pic of a Starbucks cup in a sleeve with a sticker added, suggesting the paganism of Starbucks.
Chunky is Jewish, and posed the question of why doesn't Starbucks have blue cups for Hanukkah? He was being lighthearted about the whole thing of course, but again, in my opinion, he did make a great point about how people aren't getting all up in arms about not having Hanukkah cups and other items in honor of their holiday; why are Christians making such a big deal over a cup?
By now you're probably wondering why I've brought all this up again, since it seems to have finally calmed down and gone away. Truth is, I wouldn't have brought it up at all, except it kind of helps set things up for why I'm writing this post now.
It seems now that there's no longer a huge issue about Starbucks red cups, the focus has turned to Reese's Peanut Butter Cups; specifically their tree shaped offering for the holidays.
Yes, you read that last paragraph correctly. People are all bent out of shape because it seems this year's Reese's peanut butter trees are more blobs than trees.
Okay, I get it, people buy these specifically because they're tree shaped, for the holidays. But really, is someone's entire holiday going to be ruined because a piece of candy isn't tree shaped?
My warped sense of humor kicked in when I saw this latest uproar in the media. I looked at the pic of the tree blob and thought, "hmmm...Reese's Easter Egg candy must not have sold well, they're repackaging them for Christmas". It makes sense to me anyway: Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ, and Easter is to celebrate his rising; the two holidays are connected in that way at least.
As with the Starbucks cups though, I really don't care about this latest issue with Reese's Peanut Butter Trees. It's a peanut butter cup that's been shaped into a tree. The two items taste the same, the candy company just makes an extra profit by charging more for the special shape.
It's going to be fun to sit back and watch though, to see if this latest controversy will have the longevity the Starbucks one had.
