Last night I had an email from Bob at The World Wide Robin Hood Society – following my presentation at the Sheriff’s Commission yesterday. I made reference to the original Starbucks shop in Seattle – where I went last month as part of my Grand Tour of the USA.

The previous day Bob had received an email from a contact – and lots of people were copied in, it went something like:

Subject: Starbucks!!!

Recently, British Royal Marines in Iraq wrote to Starbucks because they wanted to let them know how much they liked their coffees, and to request that they send some of it to the troops there.

Starbucks replied, telling the Royal Marines thank you for their support of their business, but that Starbucks does not support the war, nor anyone in it, and that they would not send the troops their brand of coffee.

So as not to offend Starbucks, maybe we should support them by NOT buying any of their products!

I feel we should get this out in the open. I know this war might not be very popular with some folks, but that doesn’t mean we don’t support the boys on the ground, fighting street-to-street and, house-to-house.

If you feel the same as I do then pass this along.

Thanks very much for your support. I know you’ll all be there again when I deploy once more.
Sgt. Howard Wright, 1 Platoon, Recon Company, Royal Marines

PLEASE DON’T DELETE THIS… PLEASE PASS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR E- MAIL LIST, IN MEMORY OF ALL THE TROOPS WHO HAVE BEEN WOUNDED, LOST LIMBS AND EVEN DIED, SO THAT WE MAY HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE !

Also, don’t forget that when the Twin Trade Towers were hit, the fire fighters and rescue workers went to Starbucks because it was close by for water for the survivors and workers, and Starbucks CHARGED THEM!!!

AN ADDED NOTE TO THIS: STARBUCKS HAD STORES ON SEVERAL MILITARY BASES IN THE UNITED STATES. THEY ARE NOW BEING REMOVED BECAUSE OF THIS.

There are 227 Starbucks stores across the UK , and there’s no doubt that our soldiers would get the same response from this company, so let us do our bit and boycott Starbucks to show them how despicable their actions are.

A fairly straighforward story? But I have seen similar things before and there is a great website where you can check out such emails to see if there any truth here.

And guess what – not it’s not true. Sgt. Wright issues his email in 2004 – and yet it is making the rounds this week. He also issued a correction. But that doesn’t seem to circulate!

This is what he said:

Dear Readers,

Almost 5 months ago I sent an e-mail to you my faithful friends. I did a wrong thing that needs to be cleared up. I heard by word of mouth about how Starbucks said they didn’t support the war and all. I was having enough of that kind of talk and didn’t do my research properly like I should have. This is not true. Starbucks supports men and women in uniform. They have personally contacted me and I have been sent many copies of their company’s policy on this issue. So I apologize for this quick and wrong letter that I sent out to you.

Now I ask that you all pass this email around to everyone you passed the last one to.

Thank you very much for understanding about this.

Most people know I am a big fan of Starbucks – that’s not really why I have blogged this story. My point is much more that the internet is a fantastic tool for spreading information quickly. But once it spreads it is quite difficult to stop – and retractions might not suit everyone!

So the moral is beware of these sort of stories – and check Hoax-Slayer before you send stuff on! I don’t blame Bob, by the way, these emails look genuine!