So...friends don't let friends drink Starbucks, hm? In recent years Dunkin Donuts has launched what they and thousands of Americans seem to find a rather amusing marketing ploy against Starbucks Coffee. Ridiculous t-shirts that claim 'friends don't let friends drink Starbucks'. T-Shirts, commercials (I'd imagine, though I haven't seen any commercials of any sort in quite some time) and so on.
I don't know about you, but while that may seem entertaining to people who see Starbucks as a hoity-toity coffee joint, I see it as an incredibly lame attempt to steer people toward a product that, if it was good enough, could stand on its own without bashing the competition. This marketing angle seems to be nothing more than the Dunkin insecurities rearing their ugly heads and lashing out at whomever they see as a threat to their brand.
Whatever. So Dunkin Donuts may or may not feel threatened by what is likely their biggest competitor coffee wise, although I haven't researched any statistics to prove this, so I can't say that it's a certainty. Maybe McDonalds and their McCafe drinks are the biggest threat. Maybe Seattle's Best (which is, amusingly enough, owned by Starbucks). The bottom line is that taking the road Dunkin has taken doesn't particularly show great sportsmanship on their part. I feel that, once upon a time, I was told that the tactic of attacking another company in any way, shape or form was more or less unprofessional. I mean, if I wanted to say that I thought I could make an incredible Easter ham, and that my friend Bob made a really awful Easter ham...well. You'd think I was a bit of a twit, wouldn't you? Who's to say that Bob's ham is worse than mine? Am I really an authority on that? If I was trying to get more people to come to my house for Easter dinner and started saying how my food was SO much better...wouldn't that give the impression that I was insecure in my ability to cook?
Maybe. Maybe not. But today, as I was sitting in a beautiful downtown cafe that wasn't at all part of a giant chain, I thought about this as I discussed Dunkin Donuts marketing with a friend of mine. I do love drinking coffee- all sorts of coffee- and I can't say that I love everything Dunkin has. I can't say that I love everything Starbucks has. But I can say that as a consumer I think that Dunkin Donuts was taking a rather ridiculous route to prove their point. Don't just sit there and put out shirts that imply letting your friends drink something else is wrong. Stand behind your product. Prove your point with quality, customer service, and price. Make your stand in a way that not only shows you're correct, but continue to do so.
And before you can say anything, I realize that this sort of thing does happen everywhere. You look at a generic cereal box and you'll see words like 'compare to Rice Krispies' in small print on the corner. It's the reality of the world. But you don't look at that same generic cereal box and see 'friends don't let friends eat Rice Krispies', right?
There you go. So drink Starbucks if you want. Drink Dunkin if you want. Let your friends drink whatever they want, and respect them regardless of their choice. Because friends don't let friends drink antifreeze, but friends let friends drink whatever consumable product they want.
Really. Don't let your friends drink antifreeze.
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