Starbucks and 'luxury spending' debate in Korea

Posted Aug 8th 2006 4:28PM by Michael Canfield
Filed under: Consumer Experience, Newspapers, Starbucks (SBUX)

Earlier Sarah Gilbert discussed the economic squeeze that could mean trouble for Starbucks (SBUX) and other retailers of premium-priced gourmet items. The Korean Times reports on a debate that is forming in the country over this type of spending, which for better or worse, Starbucks and the "Starbucks experience" seems to typify in many minds. Becoming a target is part-and-parcel of extraordinary success in branding.

Throughout Asia, rushing through a metropolis Starbucks in hand can be seen as a way to tap into a feeling a sophistication and the idea that one is on globalization's winning team. This is part of a lifestyle called "toenjang-nyo" in Korean cyberspace, according to the rather admonishingly-toned Korean Times story by reporter Park Chung-a (linked above) -- at least, it's called so, when the this practice pertains to young professional or college-age women.

Just as McDonald's has come to symbolize American gluttony and poor taste to critics of U.S. primacy, Starbucks is seen as trendy, or yuppie, or pretentious, or just downright wasteful by some here and abroad -- while at the same time being seen as just another corporation cash-in on a culture that once was exclusive, cool, and strictly urban, by others. The world's largest gourmet-coffee retailer, hardly the measure of all things, has nevertheless come to symbolize many different things to disparate groups of people. That's reflected in the comments we see posted on each SBUX related posts we run here on the BloggingStocks site.

Michael Canfield is a private investor, a business and media writer, living in Seattle. He doesn't own stock in Starbucks .

Tags: coffee drinks, CoffeeDrinks, espresso, globalization, gourmet coffee, GourmetCoffee, sbux, south korea, SouthKorea, starbucks asia, starbucks korea, StarbucksAsia, StarbucksKorea, toenjang-nyo