How Mayday Lyric Cups Fit Into Coffee Culture Collecting

Starbucks launched a second collaboration with the rock band Mayday, pairing a Bergamot Grapefruit Sparkling Americano with limited-edition cups printed with the band's lyrics. After the campaign began, buyers complained that white drink labels were stuck over the lyric designs, and that peeling them off left sticky residue and damaged the look of the cups they had hoped to keep.

The cups were issued in a set of nine lyric designs, and some customers bought several drinks at once to complete the set, only to receive duplicates. Store staff said labels belong in the notes area and that repeated designs came from working through existing inventory in order. The episode shows how closely limited merchandise now ties into specialty coffee marketing.

Starbucks has once again teamed up with the rock band Mayday for a collaboration, launching a Bergamot Grapefruit Sparkling Americano and themed limited-edition cups printed with classic Mayday lyrics. It should have been a grand celebration for fans. However, after the campaign kicked off, many consumers took to social media to complain: the drink labels were stuck right on top of the lyric designs, and after peeling them off, the sticky residue was hard to remove; some who bought multiple cups at once received cups with identical designs, dashing their collection plans. The brand and store staff responded with explanations, saying labels should be placed in the notes area, and that the identical cups were due to stores needing to use up inventory in order. Is this collaboration full of sincerity or a failure in the details? Front Street Coffee breaks down the whole story for you.

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Recently, Starbucks officially announced its second collaboration with rock legends Mayday, simultaneously launching a Bergamot Grapefruit Sparkling Americano along with themed limited-edition takeaway cups and paper bags, sparking heated discussion among fans.

According to real-life photos shared by users on social media, the limited-edition Starbucks takeaway cups feature classic lyrics from several of Mayday's most widely sung hits, printed in vibrant colors with a clean, artistic visual style. When colorful layered cold drinks are poured into the transparent plastic cups, consumers feel as if they're holding a photo prop—any casual snapshot yields a visually pleasing check-in photo.

Because of this, a large number of fans rushed to nearby stores to place orders after the limited-edition cold drink cups gradually became available. Consumers keen on collecting merchandise even spent heavily to buy multiple cold drinks at once in order to complete the officially released set of 9 different lyric cups, planning to wash each plastic cup clean after finishing the drink and keep them as collectibles.

But to the disappointment of some eager fans, upon receiving their drinks they discovered that a white label was stuck right over the printed design on the back of the lyrics, which was quite infuriating. Many tried to peel off the drink label, only to find the sticker extremely adhesive, leaving residue on the cup after removal and making the collectible far less perfect than expected.

So these "buying the box for the pearl" consumers couldn't help but post complaints on social media after receiving their lyric cups: "What do you mean by sticking the label on the lyrics, may I ask," "It's a collab, so why stick it on the lyrics!", "Stuck on like this, what's the point of the lyric cup?" They felt the staff's placement of labels on the very design consumers cared most about was truly inappropriate.

In addition, some customers found upon picking up multiple drinks ordered at a store that although they had planned to collect different designs in one go, they actually received multiple limited-edition cups with completely identical designs, prompting the question: "Does a single store only carry one cup design?"

The various feedback emerging on social media left fans who had been full of anticipation for the campaign rather dissatisfied. Many admitted that their main motivation for buying Starbucks drinks after the collaboration officially launched was to get the lyric-themed cups, but issues like labels covering the designs and receiving consecutive identical takeaway cups severely affected their experience, and they questioned whether the brand "didn't even bother to give staff basic training" before launching the campaign.

In response to these complaints, Starbucks employees explained that according to store operating standards, drink labels should be placed in the notes area of the takeaway cup, and the situations consumers reported of labels covering designs may have been caused by a staff member's momentary oversight. Staff said that if customers want an intact themed cup, they can communicate with the store in advance, and staff will try their best to accommodate within permitted limits.

As for the issue of customers receiving multiple identical cups, staff explained that the company supplies several designs of takeaway cups to each store based on sales volume, but each sleeve of takeaway cups uses only one design. Due to the brand's strict food safety requirements, stores must finish an entire sleeve of takeaway cups before opening the next sleeve with a different design. Therefore, if fans order multiple drinks at once, there is a high probability they will receive multiple identical themed cups rather than the random designs they hoped for.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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