Consumer advocacy group, National Consumers League, is confronting Starbucks with a lawsuit. According to the organization, the coffee giant is not living up to its commitment to ethically sourced coffee, resulting in false and misleading information for customers.
In the lawsuit, the National Consumers League (NCL) points to media reports of deficiencies at farms that supply coffee and tea to Starbucks. The group says these cases cast doubt on Starbucks’ packaging, which states the company is “committed to 100 percent ethical coffee sources.”
Among the incidents cited by the NCL is a 2022 case in which police rescued 17 workers, including three teenagers, from a coffee farm in Brazil. The workers were forced to work outside without protective equipment and lift 130-pound bags of coffee. Starbucks says it has no information on this case. The company does say it takes allegations like these very seriously and actively engages with farms to ensure they adhere to Starbucks standards.
Sexual abuse
The NCL also points to a 2023 report by the ‘BBC’ that exposed widespread sexual abuse and harsh working conditions at the James Finlay tea plantation in Kenya. James Finlay was a supplier to Starbucks at the time. The coffee giant responds that it no longer buys tea from that plantation.
Starbucks buys about 3 percent of the world’s coffee. The company says it works with 400,000 farmers in more than 30 countries. In 2004, Starbucks developed ethical guidelines for sources. The company uses third parties to verify conditions at its suppliers. Starbucks says it has zero tolerance for child labor and requires farmers to provide a safe, fair and humane work environment.
Misleading advertising
However, the NCL alleges that Starbucks is misleading consumers by failing to disclose that its certification program does not guarantee ethical sourcing. The group is asking the court to ban Starbucks from engaging in misleading advertising and demand that it conduct a corrective advertising campaign.
“The fact that Starbucks has not made meaningful reforms to its coffee and tea supply practices in light of these criticisms and documented abuses at its source farms is completely inconsistent with any reasonable consumer’s understanding of what it means to be ‘committed to 100 percent ethical’ sources,” the group said in the court documents.
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2024-01-11 13:48:32
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