Why is there a half naked mermaid on Starbucks logo?

It was 1971 and the 3 founders from Seattle decide to open a coffee shop, inspired by a character from Herman Melville's Novel "Moby Dick". They decided to name their venture Starbucks.

Further, seeking a logo that reflected the city's maritime heritage, the founders took inspiration from a greek mythological character, a Siren.

In Greek Mythology a Siren would would use her beauty to seduce the sailors and lure them into crashing their ships off on coastal islands, which is exactly what “Starbucks“ wanted, except their logo would lure customers into buying amazing coffee.

Initially, the siren was depicted with bare breasts, with her twin tails spread seductively. This sparked controversy and ignited debates about its appropriateness. However, the image quickly gained recognition and became deeply intertwined with the brand's identity.

In essence, the half-naked mermaid on the Starbucks logo is a visual metaphor for the irresistible allure of their coffee,

In 2008, the company attempted to rebrand by going back to its very first Logo, for which they received massive backlash for the nudity, also their audience was now so accustomed to their signature green branding that the company had to take it down.

Later in 2011, they introduced a more minimal and text free green logo which you see now.

The Starbucks’ logo might not be regarded as the best marketing strategy even by the top designers and marketers of today, but at the end of the day, IT WORKED!!