Starbucks won't officially unveil their new holiday cups until November, but it looks like the festive season definitely came early this year.
Thanks to a rogue employee, we have a first look at the new cups before the release date.
The design was revealed on Imgur, where a photo of the unboxed cups was posted. And if the picture is accurate, it looks like a lot less people will be outraged like they were last year.
The photo was posted along with the caption, "I peeked," which seems to be a clear reference to the packaging of the cups. Numerous Starbucks employees have recently posted photos of boxes that read, "no peeking."
Clearly, the employee who leaked the new design did not follow the message on the packaging.
OOPS.
It seems like this year's cup design features a more festive look to it.
Well, at least, the design looks like it's much more reminiscent of the holiday season than last year's solid red cups.
You might remember everyone getting up in arms after Starbucks tried to "take the Christ out of Christimas" by issuing holiday cups with no festive print.
People were really pissed off, but none more so than Joshua Feuerstein, who posted this video to his Facebook account about a year ago.
In the caption for the video, he wrote, "Starbucks REMOVED CHRISTMAS from their cups because they hate Jesus."
In addition, he suggested Christian customers should tell baristas their names are "Merry Christmas" as a way to fight back against Starbucks.
Next thing you know, a social media controversy broke out. People debated back and forth over whether Starbucks' design was just another assault in the proverbial War on Christmas.
It's worth pointing out, by the way, that Starbucks has chosen the all encompassing name "holiday" cup, in the first place. So, it doesn't look like they were ever going out of their way to rep for Jesus anyway. But I digress.
All in all, it looks like this time around we won't have to worry about any controversy. Well, hopefully.
Starbucks returned to a more festive design and now everyone can return home with their pitchforks. Thank Christ.
Citations: Traditionalists Will Be Very Happy With Starbucks Holiday Cups (Refinery 29)
