Starbucks was one of the many major 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. With the American gun debate in full-force, ‘pro-gun’ advocates were now exploiting that right, flaunting their loaded weapons in public, while retailers stayed silent.

‘Skip Starbucks Saturday’ was launched July 9, 2013 in protest against this corporate policy. More than a boycott, this grassroots promotional campaign geared at American Moms featured social posting of photos & videos, morning coffee drops to media, Mom rallies close to Starbucks locations and clever guerilla tactics at Starbucks like asking the barista for an “extra shot of gun sense” when ordering.

-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 PR impressions.

-The program actively engaged 346,097 moms across America with user-generated photo and video submissions. Earned media from this activity totaled 3,986,864 impressions.

-A full-page open letter retraction from Starbucks appeared in every major US newspapers, stating a renewed corporate vision that guns were no longer welcome in its stores.

-Moms Demand Action community fan base organically increased more than 10% during the Skip Starbucks Saturday campaign, from 105,458 to 117,027 followers.

Moms Demand Action has over 180,000 active members in all 50 states. There was the grassroots support needed to execute such an initiative on such a large, widespread scale.