Starbucks

11-11-05
My friend, Kent, once said something to the extent of, “We are all jr. high kids on the inside, adults just hide it better.”

I find that concept to be more true all the time. I find that I learn more about myself, the more time I spend with jr. high and high school students. So lately I was just wondering if anyone else has noticed the phenomenon of 12+ year olds drinking Starbucks coffee on a daily basis. They don’t just drink a cup of Folgers, it has to be Starbucks, the brand name. I was working at a youth conference this summer, and four to five times a day I would hear these students gasp, with moans of desperation, as though their brain would shut down and their social life fall dead on the spot, “I NEED A STARBUCKS!” What is that?

A friend of mine, who is a teacher at a local middle school, reports three girls walking into the crowded, social arena, before school, in their matching, pink, North Face, fleece jackets, and matching Starbucks coffee cups. Now, you might want to look at the fact that Starbucks has more caffeine, an addictive drug, than any over the counter brand of joe. And with the mass intake I’ve been witness to of 12-18 year olds that can’t be good for their health. I found this quote to back up just how much caffeine Starbucks coffee has in it.

“In a survey last year conducted by the Wall Street Journal, a 16-ounce house blend served at Starbucks was found to have 223 grams of caffeine, about a third more caffeine than a same-sized cup served by Dunkin' Donuts and nearly twice as much as a 7-Eleven serving. Starbucks says other coffee drinks contain even more caffeine -- 320 milligrams in a medium cup. That's nearly double the amount found in Folgers, the leading grocery-store brand.” http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/05/15/
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But I normally wouldn’t mention the North Face coats or probably even care that teenagers are drinking coffee. I don’t have anything against either of these brands, and there are a lot worse things that they can be spending their money on, but the fact that not any old cup of coffee will do, and highlighted by the North Face jackets, and the fact that they brought the Starbucks with them to school, into a crowded room says one very important thing. Starbucks is a status symbol. Not only are they seen carrying a cup of coffee, that if you open any copy of US weekly, or People, you will see a nice paparazzi shot of Britney Spears or Mary-Kate Olsen carrying, but it also has the subtext of, “I have enough money to buy a $4 mocha frappuchino latte with extra foam, every day? Can you?”

This cup of coffee makes them seem important, superior. Might I even dare say, valid in their social environment. It gives them a false confidence that they are “cooler” than those who aren’t holding a Starbucks cup of coffee. Now this might not seem like that bad of a pressure, and there might even be an upside to a 80 pound, 14 year old girl who won’t eat lunch, sucking down 1200 calories in one Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino Blended Crème, but this Starbucks obsession points to a need. A need to have a positive identity, so they will be accepted and seen as an important individual. And the Starbucks will only fill that need for so long. When it gets the point that everyone in the room is holding Starbucks, so they could all achieve the “Starbucks is cool” identity, there will still be the jeans that are cooler, or the internet provider that is speedier, and the gaming system with the better games, graphic, music.

What is your need? What is your Starbucks?