Shinsegae Group on the 26th announced the findings of its own fact-finding probe into the controversy over Starbucks Korea's (hereafter Starbucks) "Tank Day" marketing, saying that "serious defects were found in the marketing verification and risk management framework."
Jun Sang-jin, Shinsegae head of business management at the corporate strategy office (vice president), said at a press conference that day, "The marketing at the center of the controversy went through a total of four reporting steps. It was proposed by the commerce team and reported up to the CEO."
Shinsegae Group is said to have conducted an intensive fact-finding investigation of the entire approval line, from the Starbucks Head of Team of commerce to the responsible Deputy Minister and the CEO, including mobile phone and laptop forensics and hardware checks. Vice President Jun said, "The investigation found fatal holes in the verification process, including some employees approving without even opening the file containing the marketing drafts," adding, "Even the legal team's verification procedures that had been followed in the past were omitted." He went on to say, "It goes beyond working-level negligence and exposes a lack of social and historical sensitivity within Starbucks."
Jun also said, "In this process, no one pointed out that May 18 Tank Day was an inappropriate expression, and there was not a single objection during planning or approval."
There was also mention of some employees' lack of cooperation with the investigation. Jun said, "Because of the server retention period (one week) for in-house messenger records, some matters could not be verified, and some employees refused to submit their phones, which limited our ability to clearly determine intent," but added, "If a future police investigation finds intentional historical distortion or disparagement, we will hold those involved firmly accountable under civil and criminal law." Earlier, Shinsegae Group dismissed former CEO Son Jeong-hyun as soon as the controversy erupted and placed all responsible officials, including the Deputy Minister in charge, on standby status.
Jun also bowed his head, saying, "We will actively cooperate with any future police investigation," and, "Taking this incident as a turning point, we will fundamentally reexamine the group's internal historical awareness and social sensitivity and carry out soul-searching reforms to be reborn as corporations trusted by the public."