Scrawled on Starbucks cups, the words “Race Together” were intended to stimulate conversations about race relations in America. But the coffee company’s campaign has instead unleashed widespread vitriol.
随意写在星巴克(Starbucks)杯子上的“种族团结”(Race Together)字样，意在激起有关美国种族关系的对话。这是该咖啡公司开展的一项活动，却招致了广泛的严厉批评。The company effort, which began this week, lit up social media, drawing criticism and skepticism. The attacks grew so hostile that Corey duBrowa, the senior vice president of global communications at Starbucks, temporarily deleted his Twitter account on Monday. “Last night I felt personally attacked in a cascade of negativity,” Mr. duBrowa wrote in a post on Medium on Tuesday.
始于本周的这项活动在社交媒体上引发了激烈讨论，备受指责和质疑。连番攻击升级到充满敌意的地步，以致于星巴克负责全球通讯联络事务的高级副总裁科里·杜布罗瓦(Corey duBrowa)在周一临时删除了自己的Twitter账户。“昨天夜里，我感到自己遭到了铺天盖地的负面言论的抨击，”杜布罗瓦周二在Medium上发表了一篇帖子这样解释。
The fury and confusion boiled down to a simple question: What was Starbucks thinking?
人们的愤怒和困惑归结为一个简单的问题：星巴克究竟在想些什么啊？
On Wednesday, the company is expected to promote the “Race Together” initiative at its annual shareholders meeting in Seattle.
周三，星巴克计划在西雅图的年度股东大会上宣传“种族团结”活动。The negative feedback has been brutal. The brand has been called tone-deaf and obnoxious. Many have pointed out that the company’s leadership is predominantly white, while many of its baristas are minorities.
然而，来自各方的负面反馈毫不留情。星巴克被谴责为冷漠、可恶。很多人指出，这家公司的领导层以白人为主，而许多店员却是少数族裔。Gwen Ifill, the co-anchor of PBS NewsHour, wrote in a tweet on Tuesday: “Honest to God, if you start to engage me in a race conversation before I’ve had my morning coffee, it will not end well.”
PBS《新闻一小时》(NewsHour)节目的联合主持人格温·艾菲尔(Gwen Ifill)周二发了一条Twitter帖子：“向上帝发誓，如果有人在我大清早喝上咖啡之前，就开始拉我参与有关种族问题的讨论，那是不会有好结果的。”The company has said in statements that the “Race Together” initiative stems from a meeting that Howard Schultz, the chief executive of Starbucks, called in December at the company’s headquarters in Seattle to discuss racial tension. Events during the last year in Ferguson, Mo., Staten Island and Oakland, Calif., had turned race into a national conversation, and the gathering was meant to provide an outlet for discussion. After that meeting, Mr. Schultz decided to hold similar forums in Oakland, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Chicago and New York.
星巴克发表了多份声明，并在文中表示，“种族团结”活动源于公司首席执行官霍华德·舒尔茨(Howard Schultz)去年12月为讨论种族矛盾问题，而在公司位于西雅图的总部召集的一次会议。去年发生在密苏里州弗格森、纽约斯塔顿岛和加利福尼亚州奥克兰的事件，让种族关系成了一个全民话题。那次会议旨在为相关讨论提供一个渠道。会后，舒尔茨决定在奥克兰、洛杉矶、圣路易斯、芝加哥和纽约举行类似的论坛。On Monday, the company brought the effort to brick-and-mortar stores, encouraging its baristas to write “Race Together” on customers’ coffee cups. The company is also pushing baristas to hand out “Race Together” stickers to customers. USA Today has produced a special section on the initiative that will be available in Starbucks stores starting on Friday.
本周一，星巴克在实体店推出了这项活动，鼓励店员把“种族团结”写在顾客的咖啡杯子上。公司还要求店员向顾客发放写着“种族团结”字样的贴纸。《今日美国》(USA Today)推出了一个特别版，介绍这项活动。从周五开始，就能在星巴克门店里看到。“We at Starbucks should be willing to talk about these issues in America,” Mr. Schultz said in a statement on the campaign. “Not to point fingers or to place blame, and not because we have answers, but because staying silent is not who we are.”
“在星巴克，我们应该乐于讨论美国的这些议题，”舒尔茨在有关该活动的一份声明中说。“不是为了推卸或追究责任，也不是因为我们知道答案，而是因为保持沉默不是我们的风格。”The “Race Together” effort illustrates how Mr. Schultz is increasingly injecting the company and himself into national issues. In October 2013 during the government shutdown, he introduced a petition asking Congress to pass a budget deal by the end of the year. He also recently published a book, “For Love of Country,” about veterans and military service. The company has also taken on global issues, including clean water and fair trade.
“种族团结”活动，显示出了舒尔茨在让星巴克和他自己更多地投身到全国性议题中。在2013年10月政府停摆期间，他曾发起请愿，请求国会在当年年底之前通过一项预算协议。前不久，他还出版了一本以退伍军人和兵役为主题的书，名为《为了对国家的爱》(For Love of Country)。此外，星巴克还参与了清洁水源和公平贸易等全球性事务。Starbucks is far from the only corporation to address social issues in widespread campaigns. Coca-Cola, for instance, has tried to promote peace and harmony dating from the 1970s with commercials featuring the song “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony).”
星巴克决不是唯一一家通过开展广泛的活动来回应社会问题的企业。比如，早在世纪70年代，可口可乐(Coca-Cola)就尝试用主题曲为《我想教这个世界歌唱（完美和谐地歌唱）》(I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing [In Perfect Harmony])的商业广告，来促进和平与和谐。By other measures, Starbucks appears to be doing well. For the quarter that ended Dec. 28, the company reported a profit of $983.1 million, up from $540.7 million in the period a year earlier. Revenue increased 13 percent, to $4.8 billion. Still, the company is searching for new revenue streams, pushing into the higher-end market by offering rare coffees from around the world. There are even plans for new a chain of stores that sell fancier, more expensive brews.
从其他标准来看，星巴克表现得不错。在截至去年12月28日的那个季度，公司通报获利9.831亿美元（约合61亿元人民币），而前一年同期的利润为5.407亿美元。营业收入也提升了13%，增至48亿美元。尽管如此，公司还在寻找新的收入来源，通过提供来自全球各地的稀有咖啡来进军高端市场。公司甚至还制定了多项计划，打算开设新的连锁店铺，销售更高档、更昂贵的冲泡饮品。