Fury as Starbucks bans engagement rings and 'unnatural' hair

Starbucks has angered staff and customers by introducing new guidelines that ban employees from wearing certain types of jewellery.

The coffee giant instructed employees that they would no longer be allowed to wear rings that contain precious stones for health and safety reasons.

The new guidelines also prohibit watches, bracelets or wristbands. Simple necklaces may be worn underneath clothes. Employees’ nails must also be kept clean and short, with no polish, and no more than two earrings per ear.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Employees are also not allowed to have brightly coloured hair, with Starbucks saying it must "look natural". It will allow its staff to have tattoos, but they must not be on the neck or face or contain swear words.

"As a partner, your appearance is a reflection of the Starbucks brand and how we show up collectively is important to our customers," the company said.

Employees and customers quickly took to social media to vent their anger and call for people to boycott the company until it changes its rules.

In a statement to BuzzFeed, Starbucks said it had not created these rules and was simply adhering to state guidelines. "Local and state laws require this regulation because jewellery, such as rings with jewels, bracelets, wrist watches or wristbands, can collect soil, debris and bacteria, which can contaminate food and beverages."