Neil Young announces boycott of Starbucks
This Tuesday, March 11, 2014 photo shows Neil Young speaking during SXSW 2014 Music Festival in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Austin American-Statesman, Jay Janner) newsandtalking.blogspot.comHe's been to Hollywood, he's been to Redwood, but chances are good Neil Young won't be stepping into any more Starbucks outlets any time soon.
The legendary singer-songwriter and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee has announced on his website that he is boycotting Starbucks. He is also taking aim at Monsanto, a Missouri-based multinational agricultural and biotech company whose 34 U.S. offices include a branch in La Jolla.
'I used to line up and get my latte everyday, but yesterday was my last one,' the Canadian-born troubadour wrote Nov. 9 on neilyoung.com. 'Starbucks has teamed up with Monsanto to sue Vermont, and stop accurate food labeling. Tell Starbucks to withdraw support for the lawsuit - we have a right to know what we put in our mouths.'
For the record, the website neilyoung.warnerbrosrecords.com offers a Neil Young & Crazy Horse coffee mug for $12.99 each, while the website cafepress.com has no fewer than 28 Neil Young-related coffee mugs, with prices ranging from $12.99 to $22.99.
It is unclear how many of these are sanctioned by Young, who is apparently the first rock star to publicly urge that President Barack Obama should be impeached for supporting fracking.
In September, Young released three versions of his anti-fracking song, 'Who's Gonna Stand up?' On Sept. 30, Young and Willie Nelson performed an anti-fracking benefit concert in Nebraska. In 1985, Young, Nelson and John Mellencamp founded Farm Aid, a still-active nonprofit organization dedicated to helping family-owned farms in North America.
Young's dispute with Starbucks and Monsanto stems from their participation in litigation that pits them against the state of Vermont, where a new law will require that genetically modified ingredients in many food products be identified as such in packaging labels.
The Vermont law stipulates that, starting next July, all food products sold in the state containing GMOs (short for Genetically Modified Organisms) be so labeled. The law does make exceptions for meat, alcohol, dairy products and food served in restaurants.
The passage of the law prompted four major food industry organizations to challenge its constitutionality in a lawsuit. One of those organizations is the Grocery Manufacturers Association. Its more than 300 members include Starbucks and Monsanto. Both have inspired the ire of Young, one of the few enduring rock stars of the 1960s to retain his passion for using his music as a platform for protest on various social and political issues.
'Starbucks doesn't think you have the right to know what's in your coffee. So it's teamed up with Monsanto to sue the small U.S. state of Vermont to stop you from finding out,' Young writes on his website.
'Hiding behind the shadowy 'Grocery Manufacturers Association,' Starbucks is supporting a lawsuit that's aiming to block a landmark law that requires genetically-modified ingredients be labeled. Amazingly, it claims that the law is an assault on corporations' right to free speech.'
Young then cites what he regards as a key difference between Starbucks and Monsanto, whose website as yet does not appear to address Young's charges.
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