A prank against goliath coffee chain Starbucks has attained praise from animal protection organization, PETA.

Yesterday, on December 9, PBN circulated the news that Starbucks was finally to drop its plant-based milk upcharge. And instead, charge extra for dairy milk from cows – citing dietary racism as the motivation.

A slew of media organizations followed but it was soon revealed the original release was fake, and later the hoax was claimed by dairy-free advocacy group, Switch4Good.

The confusion has won support for shining a light on how lactose intolerance disproportionately affects Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

Starbucks prank

In a statement sent to PBN, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said: “These merry pranksters have spilled the beans about Starbucks, which claims to champion social causes while imposing a surcharge that harms cows.

“PETA urges Starbucks to recognize this prank as a wake-up call from the public and to drop the upcharge before any other tricksters roast the company for its hypocrisy.”

The coffee titan has also been in the news this week over workers voting to unionize a New York branch. Employees claim they are overworked and began unionizing this summer.

Starbucks reportedly flew out top executives to fight it.