The Starbucks 'Beaner' cup controversy refers to a viral 2018 incident where a customer in La Cañada Flintridge, California, received a coffee cup with a racial slur printed on the label instead of her name. The image of the cup quickly spread across social media, leading to a public relations crisis for Starbucks and a broader conversation about corporate culture and racial sensitivity. In the context of internet memes, the image is frequently used to satirize the common trope of Starbucks baristas misspelling customer names, though it carries a much heavier tone of social critique regarding systemic bias. Users often adapt the template to highlight corporate failures or the shock value of the original incident.