Starbucks Dreamer Day Hoax

Overview

Starbucks Dreamer Day Hoax refers to a plot orchestrated by users on 4chan’s /pol/ board to circulate false rumors on social media that the coffee chain Starbucks would grant discounts to undocumented immigrants as part of a "#BorderFreeCoffee" promotion.

Background

The plot was hatched on August 2nd, 2017, by an anonymous user on 4chan's /pol/ board.^[1] The user suggested:

How about we meme “Undocumented Immigrant Day” at Starbucks into existence? Announce free coffee for all illegals on a certain date. August 11? 11 looks like II (for Illegal Immigrant). I’m open to suggestions there. Name a liberal place for all illegals to go at once and demand free stuff.
Thoughts?

Other users in the thread suggested getting ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) involved so that they could deport those that showed up.

Developments

The same day, Twitter user @VenantDeserod^[4] tweeted a fake poster advertising the event (shown below, left). The following day, another anonymous 4chan user posted a poster^[2] they had created to spread on social media, detailing that the offer was that all undocumented immigrants would receive a 40% discount on all Starbucks products on August 11th, 2017 (shown below, right).

The poster and news of the holiday began being spread in earnest on social media. Buzzfeed,^[3] who first reported on the hoax on August 6th, posted screenshots of since-deleted tweets of people celebrating the event (shown below).

Once Starbucks caught wind of the hoax, they began to respond to people spreading the rumor, denying the event was taking place. According to Buzzfeed, the company is investigating the source of the ads.

After the hoax was picked up by Buzzfeed, other media outlets began to write about it. Daily Dot,^[5] Fortune,^[6] Teen Vogue,^[7] and more wrote about the hoax.

Search Interest

External References