This holiday season (like every other), the Starbucks franchise has released a new theme-based cup on November 1, 2015 for the upcoming holidays. The brand new cup comes with a fresh new design, one with a plain red gradient color and the Starbucks original logo. In fact, the design may be too simple.

From Day 1, the piece of unadorned paper has been too much to handle for some. The “problem” with the cup? The lack of any holiday decor on the cup supposedly takes away any Christmas spirit whatsoever. Arizona resident and evangelist Joshua Feurerstein (ALSO a pastor) states that Starbucks’ “reckless” decision for this year’s cup design removes “Christ and Christmas off their brand new cups” (Zillman, Fortune.com). Feurerstein was one of the first on Youtube to voice his opinions about such a “meaningful” event and even stated he was planning on boycotting this event: utterly ridiculous. To begin with, there are already enough complaints about religious affiliations associated with Christmas in anything released in stores during the holiday seasons, each and every year. All this is is political correctness and sugarcoating in order to prevent anyone from being “offended.”  And now, an evangelist from Arizona is complaining because of a red piece of paper? The only reason this is controversial is because Starbucks is a well-known franchise. Otherwise, no one would care. And that is all this is: a red piece of paper that holds beverages. Misinterpretation causes controversy.

Yes, Christmas isn’t for everyone. And that’s exactly what Starbucks is saying by showing off a plain red cup with no Christmas or holiday symbols. Not everyone celebrates Christmas; interpret it how you want. The months of November and December are those of joy and cheer, but simpleminded people like Feurerstein make Christmas all about their own beliefs. I suppose Christmas isn’t about jolly snowmen and pine trees like everyone thought: it’s about red cups.

Now, red cups are great and all, but what about blue cups?