The literal meaning of the word discourse refers to exploring an idea through written or verbal debate. Here, the word has a much more complex meaning and many interpretations. Rose mentions discourse as a group of statements which provides the basis of thought and action to us or knowledge which helps us understand the structure of reasoning behind decisions and concepts. Though the earlier focus in discourse was to keep the message hidden or subliminal, Foucault disliked the penetrative idea of discourse. Other scholars believed that if the meaning behind the action or subtext would become visible or apparent it will lose its meaning. He “rejected the idea of things losing their meaning if it is displayed consciously instead of targeting the subconscious.” The concepts mentioned as a method of explaining discourse by Rose can be explained by strategies used by Starbucks to provide an experience to its customers.
The first step or concept mentioned by Rose is intertextuality. The term can be interpreted as the meaning of an image being dependent on other images and issues related to it or surrounding and not just the image itself. Intertextuality can be used as a means to give multiple meaningful layers to an idea. Another concept mentioned by Rose is, power and knowledge. Foucault describes power and knowledge to be interdependent. He mentions that knowledge about the surrounding can be used to provide power to the strategy used or a strategy becomes more powerful if there is available knowledge about the things related to it.
Starbucks has time and again used intertextuality, knowledge and power to create a better brand. An example of that would be Starbucks changing the colour of its cup from white to red during the months of winter in United States and other locations. The colours red and green are the colours associated with the holiday season and Christmas in the United States, along with other places. Starbucks draws on the already existing existing association of colours to the holidays and incorporates it into its cups. Because of this the red cup is one of their signature pieces which are much awaited all year. People associate the cups with holidays coming closer and thus an emotional value is attached to it as well. Starbucks also adds other accents to the cups like snowflakes or doodles submitted by customs to further strengthen the emotional association by adding nostalgia. The cups have become iconic of Starbucks and winters. An extreme form of association can be seen through the website, countdowntoredcups.com. This website is a representative of the influence Starbucks has had on a cultural concepts of the holidays.
There are some similarities and differences in Foucault’s approach of discourse and Elliott’s analysis of Starbucks. One of the major similarities is how Starbucks rejected the penetrative idea of discourse, instead of subconsciously trying to influence the buyer into buying a Starbucks cup of coffee, it created an experience which is very upfront and direct. One of the examples of such a strategy is Starbucks mentioning or rather highlighting the location or site of manufacturing or coffee upfront. While coffee manufacturers would try to hide the location of manufacturing of their coffee, so the people do not feel hesitant to try the coffee from a mysterious and unknown place. Starbucks exotified the location and in fact openly marketed the location as one of its selling points.
