• @[email protected]
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    19210 months ago

    Willing to bet he knew nothing about the union issues and was just there for the Album PR. His manager said “Be here at this date and time and serve coffee and you’ll get a few more million album sales”

    • @[email protected]
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      5010 months ago

      Probably, but still a dumb PR stunt. Why would anybody think serving coffee would boost album or concert ticket sales?

      • VulKendov
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        4810 months ago

        Its got people talking about it. Seems like a pretty successful PR stunt to me.

          • @[email protected]
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            1210 months ago

            It’s promoting his upcoming new album and shows. I didn’t know about either, because Ed’s music is not my thing. That said, I’m infinitely more likely to spend money on either just by knowing. Now take my experience and apply it to someone that might buy either experience. If a couple of people do, and it’s likely that will happen because that’s how marketing works, then it will probably be worth it. Even with this article, more people will be exposed increasing the chance for more buyers.

          • @[email protected]
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            -610 months ago

            It’s PR that’s working very well but you just don’t get to see it. If you read the article, why makes sense. His new album and the associated concert have a fall theme with autumn in the name.

            The bland as fuck white-girls and yoga-chick types who love those crappy drinks are also far more likely to listen to this fucker. It’s mass appeal for all these future Karens who are now happy that they 1, got their shitty lattes sooner; 2, got it served by the singer who writes all their shitty pop songs; 3, are now aware and have a stronger memory regarding this upcoming tour.

      • @nolefan33
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        1710 months ago

        I didn’t know he had a new album coming out. Now I do. And now we’re all talking about it. That’s all they’re looking for, more people discussing it so it’s back of mind when it actually drops.

      • @[email protected]
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        1210 months ago

        Idk if you know this but the Venn Diagram of Ed Sheeran’s target audience and consumers of Pumpkin Spice Lattes is a circle.

      • @[email protected]
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        810 months ago

        He’s been doing this at all his tour locations. Working a shift at a local restaurant or something

      • @[email protected]
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        810 months ago

        Dude if I got my ass out of retail/food service to finally become a famous rock star, and my PR agent told me to go work a shift at the local MickyDs I would absolutely fire my agent… From a replica Quake 1 rocket launcher.

        Or if that can’t be invented yet I’ll settle for good ol Reliable Trebuchet.

      • JJROKCZ
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        210 months ago

        The vast majority of Starbucks customers don’t care about unions but they do like ed sheerans music since he’s a pop star

    • @[email protected]
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      1810 months ago

      100% this. People actually think that folks track the inner-political bullshit at Starbucks?? The delusion of some people is incredible.

      If you don’t like Starbuck’s agenda, then how about you just stop buying food from there? Oh, but that is a bridge too far for most. Hell, I bet 1/2 the people crying in here have probably bought from Starbucks and ordered from Amazon and given money to other anti-worker companies in the last week.

    • VinceUnderReview
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      710 months ago

      I’m not sure why that would disqualify him for scab behavior. Also anyone basing this much of their branding around pumpkin spice bullshit should at least be a little aware of the situation with the union.

      • @[email protected]
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        310 months ago

        It’s only scab behavior if the point is to supercede the union which this most definitely does not do.

        The entire article is just laughably bad.

    • @Poiar
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      510 months ago

      I always find it nice when people call it boycott rather than canceled

      So, thank you

      • @[email protected]
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        210 months ago

        You can’t really cancel something.

        Nobody who claims to have been cancelled has actually been cancelled.

        Because otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to claim so, since nobody would be there to listen.

  • elouboub
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    9110 months ago

    Don’t assume malice when ignorance is an apt explanation.

    • @[email protected]
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      10 months ago

      He’s a ridiculously successful pop star! His PR team has a PR team! There’s at least a handful of people whose sole full time job is to make sure that he doesn’t make any mistakes out of ignorance that might make him look bad.

      This was on purpose and with all pertinent information available.

      • Hanlon’s Razor has been weaponized too many times

        And the rich, affluent, and powerful are thankful for it.

        An act of malice is a crime.
        An act of stupidity is specifically not.

        Whom does Hanlon’s Razor benefit?
        An accosted’s peace of mind, or an accoster’s ass?

        • @[email protected]
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          410 months ago

          Ignorance of the law is not a defense and stupidity definitely leads to about the same amount of crimes as malice.

    • themeatbridge
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      010 months ago

      In this case, is there a functional difference? Will this pop star suddenly realize that the workers were protesting and join them in solidarity? Or will he go back to his life and continue to ignore the problem?

      At a certain point, ignorance and malice qchievw the same effect.

  • @[email protected]
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    10 months ago

    The pop musician who makes vacuous top 40 hits doesn’t have any principles? Color me shocked. I expected the guy who came up with that stupid “I’m in love with your body” song to be a moral paragon and hero of the people.

  • @[email protected]
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    10 months ago

    What the hell is this news outlet? No matter how badly someone messed up, media should always refrain from using words like scabby or loser behavior.

    Edit: I should make it clear that I do not object to anyone calling him a scabby person. It’s just that news outlets should never do this.

    • Roboticide
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      2410 months ago

      Jezebel is part of the original Gawker Media (now “Go Media”) network, and is a glorified blog. Hardly a “news outlet”.

      It’s also not even scab behavior. Scabs are people who take shifts at places where unions are on strike. This is a store with no union, so he’s not doing union work. It’s maybe anti-union, but it’s not scab-y.

      And while I’m generally pro-union, my experience with unions is they are very, very against non-union members doing union work. So if Ed Sheeran wanted to pick up a shift at a Starbucks for a promo, I can see why he might have had to pick a non-union location. I’d be curious to find out if he asked or what his agents discussed. Doesn’t seem likely to me that Sheeran himself said “I want to do manual labor for several hours, make sure it’s at a union-busting location.”

      This whole story seems overblown.

  • @[email protected]
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    2010 months ago

    Not surprising, given that if he doesn’t take the corpos side by being scabby, his music wouldn’t play in any mall in the world anymore. Not that it would be a bad thing, his songs are mind-numbing shit anyway

      • @[email protected]
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        1310 months ago

        It’s like an apartment building but for shops, kept alive by doing CPR on your local Spencers, chain clothing store such as JCPenney, and Sbarro’s. Your milage on the latter statement may vary

        • @[email protected]
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          110 months ago

          Best description I’ve ever read on a mall.

          My mall is somehow still kicking and not only does it not have any of those anymore, sears closed down like 5-6 years ago.

    • Altima NEO
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      10 months ago

      Especially the one with him and Camilla Cabello

  • Waldowal
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    1810 months ago

    I’m confused. I’m not a Sheeran fan at all, and definitely fuck scabs, but in this case, it seems the employees are all working. In other words, he didn’t cross a picket line to go work a shift. This seems like sensationalist bs.

  • @[email protected]
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    1710 months ago

    It’s a union movement half-way across the planet from where he lives. He has never worked a normal job in his life. Why do you expect him to care?

      • @[email protected]
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        910 months ago

        From the fact that he went from busking and performing at small venues as a teenager, to his debut single at 20. Maybe there was room for menial work during that. If you can find evidence of it, i’ll amend my comment.