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Starbucks won't call you by your name if it matches a presidential candidate

Published: 13 May. 2025, 15:14

A Starbucks branch in Seoul is pictured on May 12. [YONHAP]

Your Starbucks coffee order is up! But if you share a name with Lee Jae-myung, Kim Moon-soo, Lee Jun-seok or any other candidate running for the 2025 presidential election, don’t expect it to be called — at least until June 3.

Starbucks Korea has banned the use of presidential candidates’ names as nicknames within stores, according to the coffee chain on Monday.

“We are taking measures to prevent all presidential candidates’ names from being registered as nicknames during the election period,” a spokesperson for Starbucks Korea said. “This is to maintain political neutrality and to avoid unnecessary controversy.”

The coffee shop chain runs a “Call My Name” service where store staff call out the nickname set by the customer when their drink is ready.

Nicknames can be registered through the Starbucks app and can be changed once a month.

Certain nicknames can be restricted if they go against social norms, directly insult others, are difficult for store employees to pronounce or cause discomfort, according to Starbucks Korea’s guidelines.

The coffee chain, owned and operated by Emart affiliate SCK Company in Korea, said the measure would only be in effect during the presidential election campaigning season. After the election ends on June 3, candidate names alone will be reallowed as nicknames.

However, if a candidate’s name is combined with profanity or inappropriate expressions, it will continue to be restricted.

BY HAN YOUNG-HYE [[email protected]]