The Truth About Starbucks

This is not, of course, the truth about Starbucks (TM) and I would really appreciate it if they didn’t sue me. It’s just something really interesting about their logo, sex-hungry maidens of the sea, and a brief foray into a few branches of mythology.

First, here are some Starbucks (TM) logos, from the most recent going back to a couple of older versions:

Now here is bigger image of the latter:

And here is the twin-tailed siren illustrated in the 15th century (she’s no longer smiling).

It’s interesting that a coffee company would choose a symbol reminiscent of compulsion/addiction (sirens being what they are). In fact, maybe it explains why an entirely hypothetical person might feel compelled to enter the place, even when the coffee isn’t that great, every time she sees that magical two-tailed symbol. It’s obviously got nothing to do with the critical levels of caffeine in my - er, that is to say, the hypothetical person’s bloodstream.

If the Starbucks siren could speak, it’d probably be the Charge of the Coffee Goddess (what a shameless plug).

There are two excellent links upon this subject: the Laughing Bone (see also 'I am as you will be: the skeleton in art', - Baron would probably approve) and Fenkl’s article on the Mermaid.

As some readers may know, Starbucks had to change their corporate logo because some consumers found the suggestive split tail of their topless siren too lurid and sexually suggestive. A simplified logo was introduced, hiding the siren’s breasts under waves of hair, and that in turn was cropped and enlarged so the split in the siren’s tail would no longer show. The only indication now that the female icon is a sea creature is in the wavy lines, which originally were part of the representation of the two tails. And yes, although the image is that of a split-tailed sea creature, it is a siren. More specifically, it is a double-tailed siren, a baubo siren, which The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects points out, is “a cross between a mermaid and a sheila-na-gig” and is found as a decorative motif in many European churches and cathedrals. “Her suggestive pose, like that of the sheila-na-gig, referred to female sexual mysteries in particular.”…

And so the Starbucks logo is a brilliant piece of design, which, oddly enough, resonates with much of what I’ve discussed above. The original logo made quite explicit that Starbucks was using the lure of female sexuality to draw the customer to their coffee, but now you can see that the coffee is linked to the double lure of ultimate wisdom and the pleasures of the flesh. The name of the company, about which there is relatively little deep inquiry, actually makes the connection even more interesting. Apparently, the owners of Starbucks originally wanted to call their company “Moby’s Coffee,” referring to Moby Dick, the great white whale in Herman Melville’s classic novel (which is read as a Christian allegory, the whale representing Christ). But bringing up the image of a giant whale was deemed potentially unattractive for coffee drinkers. And so a new logo was designed, but the name “Starbucks” maintains the connection to Moby Dick — Starbuck is the name of the coffee-drinking first mate from Nantucket, the only man who challenges the mad Ahab…

Ever quick to leap on such lewd and dangerous items as mythology and (God forbid!) female sexuality, there’s also a rather interesting article on the Starbucks (TM) siren at this Christian evangelist site (maybe the magical compulsion idea ought not to be mentioned to them). Oh well, at least they can agree with the goddamn hippies and all the rest of us crazy earth-lovers in saying that that companies which produce coffee on such a massive scale (whether or not they try to pretend it’s fair-trade) can’t be good - of course, I’m not referring to Starbucks (TM).