Ireland has long been used to losing its artists and sport stars to Britain whenever they are successful, but Starbucks is now seeking to find out just how loyal all Irish people are to the crown.
Over the years Ireland the likes of Pádraig Harrington, Chris O'Dowd, Bono and Barry McGuigan have all been claimed as British by our neighbours, something which has long rankled people here.
Showing a distinct lack of knowledge regarding relations between Britain and Ireland, the well-known coffee chain went one further today when it used its local Twitter account to ask people what it is that makes them most proud to be British.
Not surprisingly, Irish twitter users have proven to be less than loyal subjects and despite the Jubilee celebrations, have responded with outrage to the offending tweet.
In less than an hour after the tweet was sent, Starbucks was trending in Ireland as people reacted to the marketing failure.
While Queen Elizabeth II was warmly welcomed during her four-day State visit to the Republic last year, it would seem from the twitter response that Irish citizens aren't ready to rejoin the Commonwealth just yet.
Starbucks has 17 stores in the Republic. According to its latest figures, Starbucks has turned around the fortunes of its Irish business, making a profit of €490,000 in the year to October 2011, compared with a loss of €3.3 million the previous year.
However, given its marketing failure, profits may be down somewhat in the future.
The offending tweet was left up for a number of hours before the company became aware of the controversy it had caused.
"We erroneously posted to our Irish Twitter page meaning to post to the UK only. Customers in Ireland: We're sorry," the firm said in a follow-up tweet.
