In South Korea, Orders at Starbucks Turn Political

South Korea is in the midst of a heated presidential election: Just ask baristas at Starbucks. The chain says so many customers were using their orders to make a political statement that it has imposed a strange new rule: People can no longer use the names of the leading candidates, reports NBC News. It seems customers using the Starbucks app to place their order were using phrases such as "Lee Jae-myung is a spy." And when the order was up, the barista would shout the phrase.

"We sometimes block certain phrases that could be misunderstood by our employees or customers—like names of political candidates with messages of support or opposition during election season to maintain neutrality," the chain explains in a statement to the BBC. Still, this is the first time it has banned all candidates' names. In addition to Lee, the names of Kim Moon-soo, Lee Jun-seok, Kwon Young-kook, Hwang Kyo-ahn, and Song Jin-ho are barred until after the June 3 vote. (More Starbucks stories.)