Monday linkothon

I'm going to try to make this a regular thing (at the very least, so I can keep track of stuff I'm reading  so I can find it again). 

• #RaceTogether: 3 Reasons Behind Starbucks' Failure: This guy nails it. I'll never understand why companies think it's a great idea to tie their campaigns to big issues. (Or, for that matter, flash-in-the-pan popular stuff like trying to capitalize on the white/gold/blue/black dress thing days after everyone was already sick of it.) I guess it can work, but most of the time it just comes across as tone-deaf and stupid. 
• The Dubious, Brand-Led Surge of Fake National Holidays: Great reporting here. I read this after I posted the National Pie Day link and now I feel kind of bad about it.
• The Remarkable Rise and Fall of McDonald's CEO Don Thompson:  Interesting (and sad) story that makes some good points—namely, that McDonald's keeps trying to be a combination Starbucks/Pizza Hit/Chipotle instead of actually listening to its customers. 

That's the news for now.