Starbucks ends ‘Race Together’

NEW YORK — Starbucks baristas will no longer write “Race Together” on customers,’ ending a visible component of the company’s diversity and racial inequality campaign that had sparked widespread criticism in the week since it took effect.

The company had planned all along to end the cup messages and continue the campaign more broadly, Starbucks spokesman Jim Olson said.

The cups were “just the catalyst” for a larger conversation, and Starbucks will still hold forum discussion and put more stores in minority communities as part of the Race Together initiative, according to a company memo from CEO Howard Schultz.

The campaign has been criticized as opportunistic and inappropriate in wake of recent events.