‘Tank Day’ marketing campaign provoked backlash for eliciting bloody suppression of 1980 Gwangju uprising. Published On 19 May 202619 May 2026The head of Starbucks Korea has been dismissed after a marketing campaign that evoked a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters provoked outrage, including from South Korea’s president.CEO Son Jung-hyun was fired to hold him accountable for the “inappropriate” promotional campaign launched on the anniversary of the May 18, 1980, uprising in Gwangju, the coffee chain’s South Korean operator said on Tuesday.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listShinsegae Group Chairman Chung Yong-jin “personally ordered” Son’s dismissal after a “strict and thorough internal investigation”, the conglomerate said, describing the top executive as “furious” over the incident.Chung took the action to “make an example of this incident so that nothing similar ever happens again”, the Shinsegae Group said, adding that another unnamed executive involved in the campaign would also be fired.Son’s dismissal came after he had earlier apologised for the “deep hurt” caused by the campaign, which used the wording “Tank Day” and “5/18” to promote a new range of coffee tumblers.The combination of the language and date provoked a swift backlash among South Koreans for seeming to invoke the armored vehicles used by the military to crush pro-democracy activists opposing then-President Chun Doo-hwan.Shinsegae Group and Starbucks did not explain how the campaign came to be linked with the sensitive date, but Son said in his apology that the promotional materials were “not thoroughly reviewed internally before the event began”.Adding his voice to civic groups representing victims of the crackdown, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said the campaign had mocked the “blood-soaked struggle” of the country’s democracy activists. Advertisement “I am outr …
