Starbucks pours boiling pot of coffee on competition in new ads

Hearing Starbucks and McDonald's argue over whose coffee is better is like listening to a horse apple and a cow pie debate which one smells worse. In any case, Starbucks just launched an ad campaign (explained in the video above by Howard Schultz himself) that takes one of McDonald's many criticisms—that Starbucks coffee is overpriced—and tries to spin it into a positive with lines like, "Beware of a cheaper cup of coffee. It comes with a price." This might also be a shot at Dunkin' Donuts, another purveyor of terrible coffee that's cheaper than Starbucks. But with them, you're getting what you pay for, which isn't always true of Starbucks, and the tone of this campaign isn't helping the latter's "pretentious yuppie" image any. Besides, they could take more basic steps to winning back consumer confidence. Making shaken iced teas that aren't 90 percent ice would be a start.

—Posted by David Kiefaber