Hillary Clinton Gets Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz's Endorsement, Customers Threaten Boycott

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Wednesday received the endorsement of coffee king Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks.

"I think it's obvious Hillary Clinton needs to be the next president," Schultz said at the CNNMoney American Opportunity conference in New York. He added that Clinton has the ideal combination of "life experience" and "professional experience" to be a success in the White House.

The endorsement is of little surprise given that Schultz calls himself a "life-long Democrat," endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 and has only donated to Democratic candidates, save for Republican Senator John McCain in the late 1990s.

Nonetheless, many Starbucks customers have taken to Twitter to express their outrage over the endorsement and even called for a boycott of the coffee chain.

And others have already found a Starbucks competitor that's more "American":

Some Starbucks customers started seeing the pro-Clinton effort at Starbucks last year:

Also on Wednesday, Schultz unveiled a new content series, called the "Upstanders," that is intended to deliver bits of inspiration with your morning coffee. The idea is to offer up a series of articles, mini-documentaries and podcasts that feature Americans who demonstrate inspiring acts of citizenship and compassion to combat what he sees as a constant bombardment of negativity.

"We're living in a time in America, especially given the political season in which there has been such vitriol and division and, unfortunately, hatred," Schultz told USA Today. "As a result of that, the media and many other people have painted a picture of America being the place where so many acts of selfless kindness and innovative solutions have not been accomplished. We said let's go out and find ordinary people doing extraordinary things and let’s bring these stories to life."

Earlier this year, Schultz was said to have been contemplating a run for the White House after routinely expressing his dismay with the way Washington works — or doesn't. On Wednesday, he didn't rule out the possibility, saying, "I'm still a young man."

He added: "I would never say never, but this is not the right time."

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr Commons