Starbucks sued for ‘100% ethical’ sourcing claim for tea and coffee
In the complaint, filed in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday, the National Consumers League alleges that producers in the coffee giant’s supply chain have a documented record of “child labor and forced labor as well as rampant and egregious sexual harassment and assault.” The suit says Starbucks has “unjustly benefited from branding itself as a leader in corporate responsibility” while hiding the “true nature” of its practices.
Starbucks plans “to aggressively defend” itself against the allegations, Michelle Burns, executive vice president of Global Coffee, Social Impact and Sustainability, said in a statement Wednesday. “Our commitment and our responsibility to build a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient future for coffee is unwavering,” she said, calling their ethical sourcing program “best-in-class.”
“Ethically sourced” is one of many potentially misleading terms, such as “organic” and “eco-friendly,” emblazoned on food packaging to attract conscientious customers. And companies are facing growing scrutiny for such claims. Trade publication Food Industry Executive noted recently that food and beverage class-action lawsuits have more than doubled in the past 10 years and wrote that this year, the industry should be prepared for “innovative theories that underpin deceptive advertising challenges.”
The NCL accuses Starbucks of seeking to capitalize on “significant and growing consumer demand for ethically sourced goods and services,” for which customers will pay a premium.
Starbucks has faced similar lawsuits. In 2022, the company reached a settlement in a lawsuit in which a woman sued Starbucks for marketing their hot chocolate as “ethically sourced” despite what she described as child labor implicit in the cocoa trade. The coffee chain is also facing legal action for allegedly misleading consumers about its Refresher fruit drinks, which lack “promised ingredients,” a lawsuit claimed.
For years, Starbucks has cast itself as ethical and sustainable, writing in its Global Human Rights Statement that it chooses partners who “conduct business in a responsible and ethical manner” and “help protect the environment and the people impacted by their business actions.” In its response to the NCL suit, Starbucks cited its Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices, a verification program dating to 2004 that “measures farms against economic, social and environmental criteria.”
The NCL said such “so-called ethical ‘certification’ programs,” are “known to be unreliable.”
In one of several examples, the lawsuit points to a 2022 complaint from the Brazilian labor prosecutor against the Cooxupé cooperative, which the NCL identified as a certified Starbucks supplier. The NCL alleged that, according to the Brazilian complaint, there were “abusive and unsafe working conditions analogous to slavery,” including violence, confinement and the trafficking of more than 30 migrant workers. It claims Starbucks has continued to work with the supplier.
“On every bag of coffee and box of K-cups sitting on grocery store shelves, Starbucks is telling consumers a lie,” NCL CEO Sally Greenberg said in a news release. “Consumers have a right to know exactly what they’re paying for.”
