Coffee drinkers across South Korea will find Starbucks stores closing early on June 22, as Starbucks Korea shutters more than 2,000 locations nationwide at 3:00 p.m. for mandatory history and social sensitivity training in the wake of a controversial “Tank Day” marketing campaign. The move, announced on June 15 by majority owner Shinsegae Group, follows weeks of boycotts, protests and a police investigation tied to the promotion’s use of language linked to South Korea’s pro-democracy struggle.
ABC News reported that all Starbucks Korea outlets, except for a small number of airport locations, will participate in the half-day closure, marking the first time since the brand entered the country in 1999 that the entire network has been ordered to shut early for a corporate mandate, according to The Japan Times. Analytics firm IGAWorks estimated the shutdown will cost about 2.1 billion won in lost sales — approximately US$1.4 million — as cited by The Economic Times.
The controversy centers on a “Tank Day” tumbler promotion launched on May 18, 2026, the 46th anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement, a deadly crackdown that remains a deeply sensitive memory in South Korea, according to The Japan Times and ABC News. The campaign used the slogan “Thwack it on the table!” — a phrase that ABC News noted echoed a 1987 police statement used in an attempt to cover up the torture death of student activist Park Jong-chol.
Seoul Economic Daily reported that the Gwangju Metropolitan Council “strongly condemns Starbucks Korea for commercially exploiting the wounds of May Gwangju through marketing” and called for an indefinite boycott, demanding that the company “transparently disclose the entire process” behind the event and take “responsible measures against all involved personnel.” According to the same outlet, a senior Shinsegae executive attempted to apologize in person in Gwangju but activist groups refused to meet.
Shinsegae Group, which owns a 67.5% stake in Starbucks Korea, canceled the promotion within hours and dismissed Starbucks Korea chief executive Son Jeong-hyun on the same day, The Japan Times reported. Shinsegae said the upcoming shutdown and training “demonstrates how seriously we take this marketing incident, and it reflects our commitment to ensuring it never happens again,” according to a statement quoted by The Japan Times and similarly characterized by ABC News.
The internal fallout has extended to governance. An internal audit found that the “Tank Day” campaign bypassed basic safeguards, with managers signing off without opening file attachments and the promotion skipping formal legal review, according to Mumbaivotes. The Japan Times reported that Starbucks Korea is now overhauling its approval chain, introducing a “social sensitivity checklist” created with external experts and requiring cross-departmental sign-offs from legal and quality control teams for future marketing.
The training itself will cover both history and social issues. Retail News Asia stated that a history professor from Sungkyunkwan University will lead sessions for staff on June 22, with additional social sensitivity training delivered by a sociology professor from the same institution. Headquarters staff and employees of E-Mart, a Shinsegae affiliate involved in initiating the “Tank Day” tumbler promotion, began live training at Shinsegae’s internal center on June 17, Retail News Asia reported.
Beyond the training day, the impact on Starbucks Korea’s wider business has been severe. The Japan Times described immediate public outrage, customer boycotts and protests outside stores, with videos circulating of people crushing Starbucks cups and deleting the mobile app. The Economic Times reported protests and product destruction outside storefronts and noted that civil servant unions joined boycotts while government ministries halted purchases of Starbucks gift cards and the defense ministry suspended a partnership with the chain.
AInvest cited reports that sales in South Korea have taken a “very significant” drop, and Mumbaivotes reported that digital voucher sales cratered following the backlash. According to Retail News Asia, Starbucks Korea was the country’s leading coffee chain by customer payments at the end of 2024, with more than 2,000 stores, underscoring the scale of the disruption.
Law enforcement and political institutions have also become involved. ABC News reported that police opened an investigation after complaints from relatives of victims of the Gwangju crackdown, and The Economic Times stated that Shinsegae Chairman Chung Yong-jin and former Starbucks Korea CEO Son Jeong-hyun have been booked as criminal suspects while the investigation continues. Starbucks Corporation, which licenses its brand to Shinsegae, issued an apology calling the campaign “an unacceptable marketing mishap” and saying “this should never have happened,” according to Vietnam.vn.
