Candy-themed Facebook post from Starbucks popular, but problematic

When Starbucks compared one of its coffee concoctions to cotton candy, the brand failed to recognize a couple problems—among them, an internal snag.

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#Yum, indeed.

But, as Craig Carter brilliantly points out on the Ignite Social Media blog, There were a handful of inherent problems with the post. Carter points out the following hiccups:

1. The drink doesn’t taste anything like cotton candy, plain and simple.

2. Baristas were mad because, as those in the trenches pointed out in the post’s comments, they would inevitably have people come in and order the “new frappuccino,” and baristas unfamiliar with the page would have no idea what a “cotton candy frappuccino” was.

The post didn’t specifically call the drink a cotton candy frappuccino, but considering the imagery and the use of the #cottoncandy hashtag, you can see where some consumers could get confused.

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