No on O (Coffee Restrictions): Berkeley, 2002

In the summer of 2002, TBW was hired by a coalition of Berkeley small businesses to defeat a ballot measure that would have prohibited the sale of any coffee within the city limits that was not “certified fair trade, shade grown, or organic”. Our client committee reflected the diversity of local businesses, and included not only the National Coffee Association and Starbucks, but also Berkeley’s own Peet’s Coffee, Bette’s Oceanview Diner, and many other progressive coffee roasters and importers who were (and still remain) strong supporters of supporting organic farmers and small growers in South America who are committed to the environment.

Despite the broad coalition of measure opponents, however, we were forced to remember that the setting was still Berkeley—where 62% of the voters consider themselves “liberal or very liberal.” A race for Berkeley’s Mayor and City Council was on the same ballot, so most of the politicians sat on the sidelines to avoid getting caught in the fray.

Our polling research showed that Berkeley voters were extremely supportive of protecting the environment by supporting the concept of organic and fair trade coffee. However, the polling also showed the author of the measure—a UC Berkeley Grad student who wrote the measure as his thesis—which handed us the silver bullet that would kill the measure.

The survey results showed that while Berkeley’s super-liberal electorate passionately supports environmental protection and organic farming, they’re also ardently opposed to overzealous law enforcement. The enforcement portion of Measure O ordinance would have set a penalty of six months in jail plus fines for offending baristas, and estimates from the City indicated that the enforcement process would cost the City as much as $100,000 a year.

The No on O campaign focused entirely on free press and direct mail to defeat the measure, since there weren’t any volunteers who cared passionately enough about the effort to make phone calls or walk precincts. Our citywide mail piece was entitled “Does the Punishment Fit the Crime?” and zeroed in on the enforcement costs and potential jail time for offenders.

On November 5, 2002, Measure O failed at the ballot box by a margin of 71% to 29%.