• Starbucks coffee is great. This is an implied statement behind the slogan, and as such, it is difficult to question. When someone says "Your generosity of spirit moved and inspired me," the part about the "generosity of spirit" is taken as a given in order for the sentence to make sense. It's a great way to slide an idea into a sentence and keep it free from pesky questioning... questions along the lines of "Is Starbucks coffee really great?"

• Starbucks food is also great. Another behind-the-scenes idea / fact. If they just came out and said "Our food is great!", most people would scoff -- the food is OK, but not "great." Also, marketing techniques like that went out in the 50s. But this is the next generation.

• What else do these five words say? They also say: If you are buying great coffee (and you are, that's why you're here), it is an affront to the coffee itself not to pair it with similarly-great food.

Really? The coffee itself will be let down if it is not consumed with food of a similar level of quality? I hate to break it to you, Starbucks, but coffee does not "deserve" anything. It is a product to be consumed, not a person, not an animal, nothing with even limited rights (and thank God for that!). I won't even say that coffee "deserves" to be consumed. There are no moral, ethical, or philosophical grounds for saying that coffee "deserves" anything at all; the statement is meaningless.

I could take the best coffee I've ever had -- which, incidentally, is not your coffee, Starbucks -- and I could pair it with stale moon pies and a sandwich made of Miracle Whip, Wonder Bread, and room-temperature head cheese, and the coffee would have nothing to say about it. Because it's just coffee.

And see how they make these two bits into a general statement? General statements are harder to question. ("Freedom is strength." "Democracy is freedom." "War is Peace." "Ignorance is Strength." "Great coffee deserves great food.")

• A farther-back layer of meaning in this slogan: You, yourself, deserve this great coffee and this great food. You deserve to treat yourself. If you're already charging your $3.44 latte, why not tack on another $3.25 for a Bacon Avocado Wrap? Don't  you deserve it?

See how they don't even come out and say or even imply that you deserve a treat? They don't need to. By putting the word "deserve" on the packaging for a luxury treat, they are subtly reinforcing the idea in your mind that yes, you do deserve this treat for yourself.

Because you work hard, because you put up with stuff you shouldn't, because you've been disappointed, because you had to come in early for that stupid meeting.

Because other people don't do what you want, because you're going to have to stay late to finish that report, because you're worried about money and kids and your job, because you can't have everything you want right now.

Because life on the treadmill of endless consumerism is ultimately meaningless, empty, and unsatisfying.

Because you fear that you will never find love, or that you will lose the love you have, or that you are not worthy of being loved. Because nothing seems to fill the void inside.

Because life is hard, you deserve to treat yourself well with something special. And (swooping in for the kill) that something special is an oven-toatsed Peppered Bacon, Egg and Aged Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich at only $2.95.

Sneaky, sneaky, subtle, manipulative marketers. I know exactly what they are doing, and I loathe and yet admire them for their undoubted skill.