Starbucks Korea headquarters raided by police as ‘Tank Day’ fallout widens

The coffee chain faces a mammoth task to rebuild public trust following a disastrous marketing campaign

Starbucks Korea’s headquarters in Seoul has been raided by the police as part of an investigation into the coffee chain’s calamitous ‘Tank Day’ marketing campaign.

Marking the release of a new line of larger-sized tumblers, Starbucks Korea’s 18 May 2026 ‘Tank Day’ tumbler promotion coincided with South Korea’s Democratisation Movement Day, which commemorates the student-led Gwangju Uprising of May 1980. Between 600 and 2,300 people are thought to have been killed during the unrest.