(the buzz around a cup)

What do Starbucks, Game of Thrones, and HBO have in Common?

It may sound like the intro to a joke, but I assure you that it isn’t.

Here’s the scoop.

If you’re like me, a Game of Thrones fan,

you probably already got wind of the buzz, a few weeks back.

It revolved around a Starbucks cup that had ‘accidentally’ made its way into an episode, and was filmed on top of Daenerys’ table.

Then link to the backstory, for those of you not in the ‘know’, is here.

I’m fascinated by a series that’s professionally curated, and careful about the way it’s filmed. It seemed to have been successful up until now in avoiding mishaps like this. It therefore seemed peculiar to me that it had made a mistake of this magnitude and had been so blatant about it.

I wondered whether this was truly a mistake.

I wondered whether the Starbucks cup had carefully been planted there, as a subliminal (or even rather overt) marketing ploy.

But the public chatter ended up being not about this marketing angle, but more about whether it ‘made sense’.

As in:

Did it make sense that there would be a Starbucks cup during the medieval ages in which GOT was set?

Here’s what I have to say to this.

It matters less whether the mistake was intentional, and more along the following:

Has anyone missed the fact they’ve added fire-breathing dragons, icicle-zombies and a woman who lives after being set on fire into the mix, in this medieval set?

I mean, is it really the Starbucks cup that’s throwing the ‘realness factor’ off here?!??

‘Cause, I mean, it goes with the ridiculousness of the whole scene.

#evenTargaryensdrinkstarbucks

(it isn’t lost on me that the brand mention has also ‘accidentally’ made its way into my own blog, but rest assured that the coffee giant has not struck a deal with me. Not just yet 😉)

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