Starbucks Holds Spelling Bee, Promotes Movie

Our local Starbucks is holding a Spelling Bee for kids this Saturday to coincide with their first ever movie promotion.  Akeelah and the Bee, set to open April 28, is about an 11 year old girl who attempts to cope with the death of her father by becoming a spelling whiz and competing in the national spelling bee.

"Starbucks is promoting Akeelah to its millions of [customers as it's] touted on the sleeves slipped onto the Starbucks cups (it sells 4 million beverages daily), emblazoned with obscure words like "shalloon," a lightweight wool fabric used for coat linings. Coasters are used to promote the movie, too, and a display table at the Starbucks in South Orange, N.J., recently was stacked high with travel Scrabble sets.... .Last Friday the chain began a countdown to Akeelah's opening date, April 28, on the ubiquitous chalkboards that spell out the day's coffee blends. Starbucks has no plans to pour bucks into making films, limiting its involvement to promoting the movie (and taking a cut of the profits in return) and selling DVDs."  via MSNBC