Skinny Latte

[HBK-aholic]

Go ahead and add another word to your arsenal of Starbucks lingo. Along with no-whip, half-caf, and venti, say hello to skinny. In this case, "skinny" means nonfat milk and sugar-free syrup, so you're getting fewer calories and sugar than in, say, your average latte. They call it "The Skinny Platform."

But not everyone is on board. The Starbucks Gossip blog featured a letter from a barista sharing her concerns about the new drink title. Among her complaints? A new drink type will cause confusion among customers, and use of the the word "skinny" to describe a beverage is politically incorrect, and could hurt customers' or workers' self-esteem. "Should we start calling drinks with 2% or whole milk and regular syrups "Fat" or "Obese?" she stated. "In today's society, the term "skinny" often refers to a person who is considered TOO thin or unhealthy looking. People will not want to order a drink with a name that they associate with an unhealthy appearance."

EDIT: The thread is basically about Censorship of speech, just using this as a general example.

So, is this getting stupid now? It's wrong to use the word skinny right now. Along with many other words, that to normal people are just that; words. To me, this just seems completely stupid, and it's a growing trend.

Words are just that. It's people like this that attach stigma to words which means suddenly we can't use them. Last I knew, Skinny was an adjective we could use to describe something. A person could take offence to being called skinny in the same way they could fat, but we're talking about drinks here.

So when will this end? How far is it going to go? And is there anything we can do to stop it?

Or, do you agree with this? Should we not use words like 'skinny' to describe drinks, along with other words?

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I freaking LOVE this thread. It gives me the chance to dive into my Marketing degree and parallel it to censorship.

Some basics: Skinny is a classic adjective - a descriptive word used often because it means something similar to everybody. Simply the antonym of "fat," the word "skinny" is used in food service as a marketing tool to create in the mind of an obese nation a vision of health and hapiness without sacrificing taste.

That is the only reason it is used. It attracted the health-conscious as well as the self-conscious to the product and drives sales, even though the ingredients change only a little. It enables Starbucks to capture a peice of the health-based market share, which is growing by the minute in the US as people finally realize that heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are reaching epic levels.

In two words - "skinny latte," - Starbucks says to you: "by drinking this product, you will acheive the caffeine you came here for in the first place to make you up and provide you energy and alertness, with the added bonus of a reduced number of calories, as we will substitute skim milk in place of whole milk and sugar free syrup in place of regular flavored syrup, as well as no added sugars." All that in only two words.

It isn't wrong to use strong, recognizable descriptive adjectives for marketing purposes. "Carefree" is a gum brand that suggests you can chew it without risk of dental problems or additional calories. The fact that the over-sensitive "PC Police" have deemed "Skinny" to be a word that either denotes anorexia or body-image issues, or is unfair to fat or obese people is ludicrous. If everyday consumers felt offended by the world Skinny, then Starbucks would not use it, as it would have an adverse affect on business! And trust me, Starbucks has done just fine with "Skinny" lattes.

 

[Father:_Polley]

So we're going to offend the regular semi-skimmed lattes by implying that they are fat, since they clearly aren't skinny, or the regular blueberry muffins will develop eating disorders because they want to be like their skinny counterparts.

How can calling a COFFEE skinny cause low self-esteem among people?
The thing about political correctness is that it only really applies to very insecure people who take issues with titles and it's ridiculous. Granted if it is a genuinely offensive term being used, then there are no problems with not using it, or the baristas in starbucks are turning round and saying 'You should go for the skinny option...you could do with it', then maybe this would be offensive, but it's a drink. what's next, skinny ties being known as width reduced ties? Short lattes being known as stature reduced lattes? Grow up people!

(On a side note - skinny muffins are no better for you, as they contain more sugar than the regular options)

 

[DrakeShadow]

As a Starbucks Barista myself, we have had no complaints on the name. People like it better than saying a non-fat, no whip, sugar free Latte. Just saying Skinny is just easier. And it saves time and confusion with large orders. And if you are so worried about being affected by the term "skinny" then maybe you shouldn't even be having Starbucks.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

This is the dumbest shit.

Hey, here is a thought, how about instead of worrying about the fucking name of a coffee drink, why dont take your fat ass jogging and loose some motherfucking weight?? No one gives a fuck about you and your self esteem. Stop being so fucking fat, how about that?? This shit DOES NOT matter. Im just an extremely practical person, and the name of a fucking coffee drink doesnt matter in the grand scheme of the planet earth. The drinks could be named "Adam is a huge filthy douche nozzle" for all I give a fuck, I wouldnt get offended. Like I said, maybe if people worried more about shit that actually matters, they wouldnt have so many ways to get their feelings hurt

 

[Gelgarin]

If Starbucks produced a milk free coffee and named it something like the ni**er late… then you ‘might’ just rouse me into caring. Beyond that… not happening.

For the most part I’m in favor of letting businesses say whatever they like (within the laws of legal competition blah blah blah) on the grounds that if they do something that the public doesn’t like then it will cost them money, and as such “justice will be done”.
On the subject of free speech… I’m something of a perennial waverer. Whilst quotes like “I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your rights to say it”, sound all well and good; nine times out of ten when the free speech argument gets trotted out it’s because someone is acting like to twat and saying something they shouldn’t.

Basically; what my opinion all boils down to is that I want free speech for everyone who isn’t a total fuckwit. My frequent partitions to the UK Prime Minister asking for a nation “fuckwit test” have fallen of deaf ears. People who have something to say should be allowed to say it, but people such as the Westbro Baptist Church (constructers of the infamous ‘God Hates ****’ website) should have their jaws wired shut and be bared from all public services.