In 2024, Starbucks faced a lawsuit over its ” 100% ethnically sourced products” (coffees and teas). According to the article written by Nadia El Yaouti, the national consumer reports that the Starbucks supplier farms in Brazil have been subjected to unsafe working conditions and labor abuse, which had been going on for a few years. Similar working conditions have also been reported in the coffee and tea farms in Kenya and Guatemala. You would think that once Starbucks got exposed for these reports on unsafe working conditions that the company would try to address the situation by improving the working environment. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Starbucks opted to seek out “third-party certification programs” to essentially keep up the facade that its products were ethically sourced. This is an example of false advertising. Starbucks is advertising its products as ethical but is not disclosing the alleged unsafe working conditions and labor abuse taking place.
Here’s the link to the article I mentioned: