College Students to ‘Roast’ Starbucks Over Vegan Milk Upcharge

University of Idaho Students Will Hold PETA Protest Against the Penalty for Choosing Eco- and Animal-Friendly Options

For Immediate Release:
February 25, 2020

Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382

Twenty-year-old Kaylee Carr will lead a group of University of Idaho students armed with giant PETA posters proclaiming, “Soy Milk Surcharge Sux,” in occupying a local Starbucks on Wednesday.

When:    Wednesday, February 26, 5–6 p.m.

Where:    Starbucks, 710 S. Deakin St., Moscow

The protest—which comes on the heels of PETA’s Week of Action, during which activists of all ages occupied Starbucks locations across the U.S. and Canada—follows the chain’s release of its “sustainability commitment” and an environmental assessment revealing that dairy “products” are the company’s “biggest source of carbon dioxide emissions.” Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson has stated, “Alternative milks will be a big part of the solution,” and that he’ll push consumers to choose milk made from almonds, coconuts, soy, or oats, whose production is friendlier to the environment—but the upcharge for such milk continues.

“Continuing to charge more for vegan milk while admitting that it’s the key to reducing Starbucks’ massive carbon footprint is irresponsible and unethical,” says PETA Senior Director of Youth Programs Marta Holmberg. “Young people are leading the charge in demanding that the company wake up and smell the coffee: It’s time for the unfair surcharge to end.”

In today’s dairy industry, cows are artificially inseminated (raped when a person inserts an arm into the rectum and a metal rod into the vagina) and calves are torn away from their loving mothers within a day of birth.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org or click here.