How a merch fiasco became a brand win for Starbucks

Brawls aside, the bungled ‘Bearista’ rollout had an upside. It’s not often that headlines about customer “brawls” end up morphing into good news for a brand. But that’s arguably what’s happened to Starbucks thanks to the bungled rollout of its limited-run “Bearista” cups becoming the first new craze of this holiday season—even including good-natured copycat tributes from the likes of Aldi and Walmart.