A at liberty iced coffee e-mail ca...

A at liberty iced coffee e-mail campaign at Starbucks that was meant to be small instead deflected grande when someone changed the coupon's wording and spread it online, forcing the chain to kill the promotion.

The e-mail interest certificate was originally distributed Aug. 23 to "a limited group" of employee in the southeast part of the home They were encouraged to transmit it to friends and family, the company said.

still the coupon's wording offering a unrestrained iced coffee was altered to allow for any iced drink, including the pricey frappuccino. at so early an hour it had been spread to centurys of thousands of people nationwide.

The detachable certificates hit Chicago stores in novel days. At one downtown Starbucks, 60 detachable certificates were cashed in Tuesday, workers said.

Because the original promotion was valid, the "113" digest on the coupon was accepted at cash registers at the chain.

VALIDITY DEBATED

Starbucks haped the plug late Tuesday, saying the promotional e- mail "has been redistributed beyond the original intent and modified beyond Starbucks control"

Before then, folks around the country debated online whether the interest warrant was valid or not.

"To all you non-believers: ive had 3 lots of free iced coffee today, and undivided free frapuchino," a spelling-challenged living body in California wrote on the digg.com Web site.

Another retorted it was obviously a fake interest certificate writing: "Want me to make you single that gets you free oppressive coffee too? How about a liberated happy meal?"

Starbucks employee here said customers have taken the [i]finale[/i] of the free ride in stride.

"People figured it was too advantageous to be true," a barista said.

stoomey@suntimes.com

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