Every Game of Thrones fan is all battle this, beheading that, Ghost this. Me? I wanna know all the tea (pun totally intended) about that bloody Starbucks cup.
[jwplayer SMHNVGWV]
Mother of Dragons, Emilia Clarke put her two cents in on the matter via Instagram by sharing a photo alongside her old TV husband Jason Momoa and co-star Peter Dinklage.
“Did I just stumble upon the truth here?!” She writes in the caption. “The cup bearer does not drinketh the Starbucks tea… oh and this ain’t a spoiler just a lost wanderer coming home for a mid filming cuppa….???? @prideofgypsies you so fire you make my hair turn blue.”
In the piccy, Clarke is holding a paper coffee cup, not unlike the cup that was on the table during the scene that made international headlines.
The cup was placed on the table in front of Dany during the scene that also included showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss making cameos.
On Monday, HBO told INSIDER that the cup spotted in a scene of the eighth season’s fourth episode, “The Last of the Starks,” was from the set’s craft services, which serves drinks and food to the cast and crew.
The network also joked that the latte that appeared on the episode was a mistake: “Daenerys had ordered an herbal tea.”
The gaffe may have left the GoT cast and crew red-faced but apparently it did a world of good for Starbucks.
Stacy Jones, the CEO of the marketing agency Hollywood Branded, which specialises in product placement, told INSIDER that Starbucks would’ve had to pay $250,000 to $1 million USD (over $358,000 AUD to over $1.4 million AUD) for one of its containers to be gratuitously left in front of Clarke’s character.
“If we were looking at this in the grand scheme of things and we were comparing Game of Thrones to the other largest-watched content out there … you’re looking at the $250,000 USD to $1 million USD range for product placement where that product was positioned with a very central character,” Jones said.
Using metrics from media monitoring platform Critical Mention, Jones said the overall PR value for Starbucks was in the region of $2.3 billion USD (almost $3.3 billion AUD) — and that figure is still rising.
“And while yes, HBO doesn’t look awesome for forgetting that cup during their continuity checks and filming processes, it has tremendous positive value for the show as well. Fans – and non-fans – are all talking.
“Starbucks is experiencing a windfall.”
