Starbucks begins 'cliff' write-in campaign

Starbucks Corp. will use its ubiquitous coffee cups to tell U.S. lawmakers to come up with a deal to avoid going over the "fiscal cliff."

Chief executive Howard Schultz is urging workers in Starbucks' roughly 120 Washington, D.C.-area shops to write "come together" on customers' cups Thursday and Friday, as President Barack Obama and lawmakers return to work and attempt to revive fiscal cliff negotiations.

Whether members of Congress actually drink in the message is another matter. While the concentration of Starbucks cafes is high in the vicinity of the White House, it's relatively low near the U.S. Capitol. Members of the House and Senate enjoy private dining facilities.

Starbucks' cup campaign aims to send a message to sharply divided politicians and serve as a rallying cry for the public in the days leading up to the Jan. 1 deadline.

"We're paying attention, we're greatly disappointed in what's going on and we deserve better," Schultz said. The chief executive said he has joined a growing list of high-powered business leaders, politicians and financial experts in endorsing the Campaign to Fix the Debt, a nonpartisan group that is leaning on lawmakers to put the United States' financial house in order.