Political factors impacting Starbucks Coffee include political stability in local and global markets, as well as, the extent of international relationships between Starbucks home country US and countries in African continent and Latin America that harvest coffee for the company, and other countries where Starbucks operates its stores. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is a politically vocal “calling on Americans to sign a ‘Come Together’ petition online and at stores” (Wong, 2013, online) to voice concerns about the US debt issue. However, implications of Schultz’s political activities on Starbucks brand image are difficult to assess.