"Better Carat representation than Pledis": SEVENTEEN Starbucks cup craze takes over internet

The newly unveiled Starbucks spring Cherry Blossom collection has intrigued some K-pop fans as they rush to buy them from the nearest stores.

The new spring collection of cups and other merch by the coffeehouse and brewery chain introduced in the Philippines and Japan has fans going crazy with the resemblance of the collection to the colors of the popular K-Pop band SEVENTEEN. As Strabuck's introduced this year's ''pretty blue and pink'' color scheme, CARATs (SEVENTEEN's fandom name) were immediately taken by the similarity it had with the boy band's fandom colors (Rose Quartz and Serenity).

While not an official partnership between the chain and the K-pop group, CARATs seem to love how the unofficial merchandise represents the fandom much better than the official one released this week by Pledis Entertainment (SEVENTEEN's entertainment agency). User @fallincheol wrote on Twitter:

CARATs tweet about how Starbucks' new spring Cherry Blossom collection is more in tune with the fandom colors than the official merch

Starbucks fans are well aware that the chain serves much more than just coffee, tea, breakfasts, or salads. Like every year, this time as well, the chain's merchandise has managed to surprise their customers.

As the chain recently introduced this year's spring Cherry Blossom collection in Japan and the Philippines, K-pop fans couldn't hold their excitement seeing how the newly introduced collection was available in colors representing CARATs. However, an official merch with darker theme colors was released by Pledis Entertainment in the same week, which ended up disappointing fans.

Seeing the massive difference in unofficial representation by Starbucks and the official one by Pledis, CARATs are not just rushing to the coffeehouse chain to buy the merch but are also tweeting about how Pledis may not have done its job vwell.

Adding oil to the fire, user @daywithshua tweeted that HYBE, the parent company of Pledis Entertainment, could be inspired by the new merch and bring back the Rose Quartz and Serenity colors. Meanwhile, another fan tweeted about how Starbucks was being CARAT-themed for the Cherry Blossom season.

The new spring Cherry Blossom collection is already on sale in Japan and the Philippines for a limited time. Whether a customer is a CARAT or just a fan who's into collecting Starbucks cups and tumblers, they might miss out on the opportunity to get their hands on them if they don't rush up.

Meanwhile, fans in other regions of the world may get good news about the same merch coming to other markets as the season changes across the globe and the Spring sets in.

About the author

Kaushal holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication and has been a fast food and pop culture writer with SK POP since 2022. He has previously worked as a writer for over 2 years, and cites that his interest in food and news stories paved the way for him to work at Sportskeeda.

Kaushal believes that food is a crucial part of world culture that helps break the barriers of language and nationality by allowing multiple people to connect over meals, and believes that fast food represents the raw version of this culture.

He conducts research only from verified sources for his content, sometimes by referring to customer reviews to get a better idea about the products and their cultural significance to ensure accuracy and relevance.

JangandFox, Li Chen, and Pankaj Tripathi are some of the artists Kaushal admires for the simplicity and worldly innocence portrayed through their work. When not writing, Kaushal likes to read fiction books or studying the current trends in the food industry.

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