On January 5, 2011, Starbucks Corp. introduced a new logo that would represent all Starbucks products beginning in March of 2011. The new logo simply consists of a green Siren, no longer placed within the boundaries of the green circle bearing the words “Starbucks Coffee”.

Adverse reactions began accumulating on the official Starbucks website as well as other social media websites only a few hours after the unveiling of the new Starbucks logo; although the new logo received some support, many consumers were unpleasantly surprised by the change. Positive feedback included comments about the simple, modern, and elegant design while negative responses mainly revolved around the absurdity of removing the words “Starbucks Coffee” from the logo.

With the renovated logo officially releasing in March, Starbucks, celebrating its 40th anniversary, stated that the logo not only represents the company’s milestone year but also the next chapter of Starbucks history. This means that Starbucks will continue to embody its coffee heritage but will also be prepared and ready for future growth and development. Besides the reason of changing the original logo for strategic business reasons, the company decided to drop the words “Starbucks Coffee” and make the Siren a more prominent placement on Starbucks’ cup and sleeves because the company does not want to be known for just selling coffee anymore.

Starbucks President and CEO Howard Shultz also hinted that consumers should expect more transformation in the coming spring, though no details were revealed.
In the past, Starbucks Corp. has only altered the logo twice since the original logo in 1971.

The first change occurred in 1987 when the completely brown logo bearing the text “Starbucks”, “Coffee”, “Tea”, and “Spices” was changed to the green and black logo with the words “Starbucks Coffee”, not unlike the current logo. The next change occurred in 1992, and the only thing that changed was the artwork of the Siren.