In addition to Starbucks customers, the company is trying to get the chief executives of the nation’s largest companies to sign.
The move is unusual for a company such as Seattle-based Starbucks. While big brands generally steer clear of politics to avoid alienating customers, Starbucks and its chief executive, Howard Schultz, in recent years have run toward the spotlight by trying to gain a voice in national political issues.
Because the company’s efforts are generally nonpartisan and unlikely to cause controversy, marketing and corporate-image experts say they burnish Starbucks’ reputation as a socially conscious company.
“It’s always risky when brands mix politics and business,” said Allen Adamson, managing director of the New York-based branding firm Landor Associates. “But the benefit for Starbucks likely outweighs the risk.”
Last month, Schultz asked customers not to bring guns into Starbucks stores.
Last December, the company asked employees to write “Come together” on cups to send a message to lawmakers about the damage being caused by the divisive negotiations over the “fiscal cliff,” a combination of tax and spending cuts that was scheduled to become effective Dec. 31, 2012.