Comedian Paul Gale thinks he is on to the real reason why Starbucks spells your name wrong.

According to Gale, it is a purposeful brand gesture and its all part of the brand experience and a cheeky ploy to encourage social content and discussion.

Of course, this is a parody. It’s amusing and wildly exaggerated. However, it does make you wonder if there is a grand plan behind this.

It is certainly one of the most consistent brand gestures that not only frustrates Starbucks fans around the world, it gets them talking and sharing. After all, there are even blogs such as starbucksspelling.tumblr.com dedicated to this brand gesture.

Is Starbucks spelling a clever way to fuel social brand conversation or is just a brand turn-off?

Michael Hughes
Managing Partner, Strategy

Images courtesy of starbuckspelling.tumbler.com