Starbucks was one of the many major American retailers that allowed the public to carry armed weapons inside their stores where state ‘open carry’ laws allow it. This was despite Starbucks banning smoking 25-feet from all locations in the interest of public safety.

‘Skip Starbucks Saturday’ was launched July 9, 2013 in protest against this corporate policy.

Geared towards moms and concerned parents in all 50 states, the ask was to give up Starbucks every Saturday in favor of home brew or a Starbucks competitor that supported stricter gun laws. On September 18, 2013 Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz finally bowed to public pressure in a national televised address that was broadcast across all major TV networks. Guns would no longer be welcome inside Starbucks stores.

Moms Demand Action has over 180,000 members in all 50 states so there was the grassroots support needed to execute such an initiative on such a large, widespread scale. Consequently, every single one of the moms working on the program was her own individual media channel promoting Skip Starbucks Saturday to each of their own respective online communities.

The program actively engaged 346,097 moms across America with user-generated photo and video submissions. On September 18, 2013 Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz bowed to public pressure in a national televised address that was broadcast across all major TV networks. Earned media coverage on this day alone exceeded 320 million impressions. A full-page open letter retraction from the company appeared in every major US newspapers, stating guns were no longer welcome in its stores.

On September 18, 2013 Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz bowed to public pressure in a national televised address that was broadcast across all major TV networks. Earned media coverage on this day alone exceeded 320 million impressions. A full-page open letter retraction from the company appeared in every major US newspapers, stating guns were no longer welcome in its stores. After the declaration, “Skip Starbucks” was immediately replaced with “Celebrate Starbucks” with moms actively thanking and supporting the company. The program actively engaged 346,097 moms across America with user-generated photo and video submissions.