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June 29, 2005

Rite of Passage

Last week I finally took the big step with my son. He’s 10 and I thought it was time. Why wait any longer for the important rite of passage.

I took him to Starbucks.

I had my usual coffee of the day with cream. He had some health bar thing, which he found lacking.

While there he asked: "Why is there a girl on the Starbucks logo?" I did not know. Here are some explanations.

(It’s a mermaid. But I still haven’t figured out what this has to do with coffee).


Posted by Jim at June 29, 2005 07:56 AM

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More about the Starbucks Siren can be read here and here.

From the last link:

"And so the Starbucks logo is a brilliant piece of design, which, oddly enough, resonates with much of what I've discussed above. The original logo made quite explicit that Starbucks was using the lure of female sexuality to draw the customer to their coffee, but now you can see that the coffee is linked to the double lure of ultimate wisdom and the pleasures of the flesh. The name of the company, about which there is relatively little deep inquiry, actually makes the connection even more interesting. Apparently, the owners of Starbucks originally wanted to call their company "Moby's Coffee," referring to Moby Dick, the great white whale in Herman Melville's classic novel (which is read as a Christian allegory, the whale representing Christ). But bringing up the image of a giant whale was deemed potentially unattractive for coffee drinkers. And so a new logo was designed, but the name "Starbucks" maintains the connection to Moby Dick—Starbuck is the name of the coffee-drinking first mate from Nantucket, the only man who challenges the mad Ahab."

Posted by: Jeffrey King at June 29, 2005 11:55 AM

The siren lures passers-by with promises of mocha lattes and espresso. Then she steals all the money from their wallet.

Posted by: Doug Payton at June 29, 2005 12:03 PM