Final Note

It’s not even fall, and pumpkin spice is ruling Instagram

Molly Wood Sep 8, 2016
HTML EMBED:
COPY
hirotomo t/Flickr via Creative Commons
Final Note

It’s not even fall, and pumpkin spice is ruling Instagram

Molly Wood Sep 8, 2016
hirotomo t/Flickr via Creative Commons
HTML EMBED:
COPY

In the land of brands, fall means one thing: Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes.

Now, regular Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal has a legendary hatred for the PSL, as the fans call it. Pumpkin anything, really.

Me? I love them.

So imagine my amusement at this story in AdWeek about the social media chatter around the PSL.

There are almost 57 million tweets about the drink, which made its 2016 debut this week, and almost 1.2 million Instagram posts. Plus, in a sea of Starbucks posts on Insta, one tagged with #PSL was 493 percent more likely to get a “like.”

Sorry, Ryssdal. You lose this round, buddy.

By the way, back in 2014 we looked into how Starbucks makes those seasonal drinks — turns out it’s years of research and a big shot of clever marketing. Check out that story, from our “Brought to you by…” series, below.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.