We are global citizens.  We have an awesome responsibility especially as the addicted coffee drinkers that we are:  Coffee touches numerous impoverished growing regions, and we in a first world country, have a social obligation to be not just consumers, but rather responsible collaborators.  The word “collaborate” comes from the Latin, meaning, ‘labor together’.  What we can do is support and anchor partnerships with organizations like (Red).

This short blog post is inspired by a MyStarbucksIdea idea thread about the cold re-usable to-go tumblers.  Why not partner this product with (Red)?  The most recent launch of the cold to-go cups was the November 2009 holiday version with a red and white striped straw, which tumblers sold well.

So imagine a re-usable cold cup with a red straw, and perhaps a 3 pack of spare straws, and the green Siren with the Red distinctive parenthesis around it.  Just as with other (Red) partnerships, a portion of the sales could go to (Red) which fights HIV in Africa.  This is a great opportunity for an easy way to create a popular product partnership with (Red). It’s a simple design idea, and already a popular item!

I’m asking my readers to please, take a minute, go to MSI, and vote up the (Red) Cold Cup thread idea. Here’s the link to follow one more time:

This blog entry gives me a chance to touch upon two previous blog posts that closely tie into the theme of this one:

  1. (Red) The Year In Review – An October 2009 blog entry which summarizes the many product partnerships between Starbucks and (Red).
  2. Recyclable Cups at Starbucks – This is an important older StarbucksMelody.com blog post about personal cup use at Starbucks. The bottom line is that it is too little, and it needs improvement.