Starbucks is going the DIY route with its 2017 holiday cup.
The coffee chain’s latest holiday design — a mostly white cup featuring such illustrations as pair of hands holding two red and green cups — invites customers to color in the outlines themselves.
Caffeine lovers should start receiving their orders in the festive cups Wednesday, according to a news release.
“This year’s cup is intentionally designed to encourage our customers to add their own color and illustrations,” Starbucks executive creative director Leanne Fremar said in a statement. “We love the idea of everyone making this year’s cup their own.”
Cup sleeves bearing the message “GIVE GOOD” are red, the color of Starbucks cups past.
At least one New Yorker approved of the company’s egalitarian strategy: “Starbucks decided that this holiday season everyone can go f–k themselves and color the cup however they please,” a local wrote on Twitter. “I like their approach.”
Critics attacked the Seattle-based chain in 2015 for the plain red cup it released that year, bereft of Christmas trees, snowflakes or other symbols associated with the Christian holiday. They accused the coffee company of declaring a “war on Christmas,” and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump even suggested boycotting the brand.
In 2016, Starbucks retreated behind a crowdsourcing contest, decorating their holiday cups in 13 different designs submitted by customers.
This year, a company illustrator has adorned the cup with black-and-white drawings of presents, hands holding one another, swirling ribbons, a dove and a star-topped Christmas tree.
Those who expected drama to ensue after the cup’s release were disappointed: the response to the design on social media was relatively quiet on Wednesday, after two consecutive years of backlash.
That could be because, according to Starbucks, customers have been using their cups as canvasses for years.
The chain first introduced its holiday red cups in 1997.
