Copywriting Course

Lawsuits in America have now gone too far. This one tops them all and is more ridiculous than the McDonald’s lawsuit that awarded $2.9 million to an 81-year-old woman scalded by McDonald’s coffee. Wow, I didn’t know coffee was supposed to be hot - come on now!

Peter Sullivan, a New York lawyer is suing on behalf of a 23-year-oldStarbucksregular who felt “betrayed” because she was not given afree Iced Grande Starbucks coffeeas suggested in an email she received that contained a coupon for the free drink. The email campaign started out as an email for employees - all employees were given a coupon, by email, to receive a free Iced Grande coffee from their employer Starbucks. The company then suggested that all employees forward the email to their family and friends to receive a free Iced Grande coffee as well.

Well we all know how quickly things can spread on the Internet. This email turned into aviral emailof sorts and spread to millions of users within a few weeks. Once thousands of people were starting to flock into Starbucks stores, the company pulled the plug on the free Iced Grande promotion last week, one month short of their September 30 expiration date. This was unsettling to a few customers and now one of their regulars is suing for $114 million. The lawyer it suing for this crazy amount in hopes to get this set up as a class-action lawsuit. He said he will request class-action status to include the “thousands who were misled” by the offer.

I agree, Starbucks was stupid for allowing all employees to send this out to their friends and family to offer this promotion to them as well but come one now, suing for $114 million because you felt “betrayed”? This is outrageous. How can you feel betrayed over a coffee drink that costs less than $3? I can understand if you feel upset, angry or annoyed. But betrayed? How can you feel let down by a cup of coffee?

This lawsuit is just another one of those cases that gives a bad name to lawyers and lawsuits in America. It’s sad for all the quality lawyers out there who are respectful and won’t sue for anything they can think of. There are thousands of quality lawyers out there and this case is just not doing them any justice.

Now Starbucks, yes this was stupid on your part but I’m on your side for this one. Let this be a huge learning lesson for all us business owners out there. Before you release your next Internet marketing campaign think of the possible consequences because the Internet can be a dangerous place and information can spread like wildfire. Always be careful what you wish for. If you want to attract millions of people in a matter of weeks, then the Internet is the only medium that can accomplish this. But as in Starbucks case, a million was a million too many.