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Dumb Starbucks in Los Feliz February 12, 2014

Posted by lborodkin in : Uncategorized , add a comment

A Dumb Starbucks opened in my neighborhood over the weekend.

The Guardian asked me to write an op-ed piece on it, so I did.

“Dumb Starbucks was the perfect crime, but Starbucks was smart to play dumb.”

Dumb Starbucks at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, February 9, 2014. Photo: Lisa Borodkin

Dumb Starbucks at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, February 9, 2014. Photo: (c) Lisa Borodkin

A casual poll of my Los Feliz friends yielded a generally positive range of reactions. The stunt was funny, and timely. I had just attended a Digital LA panel on the future of Silicon Beach and Hollywood. In a world where there is a demonstrated consumer demand to skip through televison commercials (see Fox Broad. Co. v. Dish Network L.L.C., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 1657, 2014 WL 260572 (9th Cir. Cal. Jan. 24, 2014), a/k/a the “Dish Hopper” case), what is the future of the television commercial? I hope this is it.

I did find a funny typo in LEXIS misspelling Illinois’ anti-dilution statute as “antidelusion.” If only states could eliminate delusions so easily.

The only thing diluted by Dumb Starbucks was the coffee.

The only thing diluted by Dumb Starbucks was the coffee.

Anyway, the whole thing was a lot of fun, and I look forward to more terrible advice from Nathan and doomed retail establishments next to my dry cleaner.

Nathan Fielder says he’s going to open a Dumb Starbucks in Brooklyn next week. Let’s just hope it’s in Williamsburg.