An Analysis of the Infamous Flavor that Signals the start of Fall
By: Hannah Chumley & Emma Grech
There has always been an ongoing debate on social media when the holiday season approaches: when it is too early to start decorating, burning holiday scents, or adding holiday flavors to everything? The dominant flavor for the autumn season is Pumpkin Spice, and every year it seems like the flavor makes an appearance earlier than it did the year before. This year marked the earliest the Pumpkin Spice latte powerhouse, Starbucks, brought back the beloved drink (Dunkin’ brought it back even earlier than that), and people on social media immediately began the yearly debate.
Between August 25th, the day Starbucks announced they were bringing back the beloved flavor the earliest yet, and September 2nd, the topic had over 130k posts on social. On August 25th alone, after Starbucks took to their social media accounts to make the announcement, ‘pumpkin’ had over 30k posts. The conversation continued, still receiving between 5-15K posts a day, most of which took place on Twitter (88.7% of posts), but there was also discussion on YouTube(8.9%) and even on Facebook(1.1%). Although most people enjoy this fall flavor in coffee, pastries, or pretty much anything, there are always the people who disagree with the most beloved pumpkin spice.
Many people took to social media to share their “unpopular opinion” of not liking pumpkin-flavored items. Still, it turns out they might not be a minority anymore, as the negative sentiment surrounding pumpkin spice was 41.6%. Maybe this negative sentiment stems from it being “too early” for fall celebration, but many of them admit to not liking the taste at all. Despite the negative sentiment, with how the year 2020 has been, it seemed like people were defending the especially early start of the pumpkin season by saying that it was something to be happy about.
The debate also extends beyond coffee. One of the most talked-about topics on social was about a Pumpkin Spice makeup collection by Too Faced cosmetics, and there were even tweets of Pumpkin Spice Clorox cleaner. Wherever you stand on the pumpkin spice debate, whether you are ‘basic’ and love a PSL, or whether you don’t like the flavor at all. You have probably contributed to this conversation on social media.
Full Analysis:
Purpose: The purpose of this Topic of The Week is to analyze the thoughts of the public on the infamous “Pumpkin Spice” as it approaches Fall, and many places are bringing back their drinks, snacks, candles, and all things pumpkin spice. There is always quite a debate on if it is too early or if pumpkin spice lives up to its grand image.
Analysis Time Frame: August 25th– September 2nd, 2020
Overall Trends
- A massive peak in conversation, approximately 13K posts on August 25th: The day that both Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts brought back Pumpkin Spice(Coffees and pastries). There was also more conversation on August 31st before the first day in September, which for many people is the first day of the fall season.
- 88.9% of the posts are from Twitter, but there was also conversation on YouTube(8.7%) and Facebook(1.1%).
- The overall sentiment was 58.4% positive, assuming that most people were excited about the pumpkin season starting but that there was approximately 41.6% negative sentiment.
- A total of 16K mentions, also showing a massive spike in activity on the August 25th and a smaller spike on September 1st
- An average of 2k mentions per day(up 190% from usual)
- The top key words seem more about the coffee-related regarding pumpkin spice(PSL, cream, cold brew, beverage, full recipe). One interesting keyword on meltwater was “earliest release,” so people definitely noticed that this was earlier than usual.
- The sentiment was mostly neutral but had a positive sentiment of 15% and a negative of 5%
Keyword Group
Keyword Group 1: “PSL,” “pumpkin” AND “spice,” “Starbucks” AND “pumpkin,” “Dunkin’’ AND “pumpkin,” “pumkin” AND “spice.”
Impact: 130k posts
Trends
Margaritas
– One tweet that got a lot of attention came from a Tex Mex chain of Texas, shutting down any ideas of a Pumpkin margarita, saying that people were taking the trend too far and to celebrate fall in other ways.
Fall
A lot of the excitement surrounding pumpkin spice is based on eagerness for the Fall season and all things holiday-related.
Starbucks, Dunkin’ and Krispy Kreme
These were the 3 most talked-about when it came to Pumpkin Spice items. People were excited about Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Dunkins’ fall-flavored drinks, and Krispy Kreme’s array of multiple fall-inspired donuts, including Pumpkin Spice.
Word Cloud
Review
This was one of the top words because it appears that a lot of Youtubers are creating a lot of content reviewing all things pumpkin spice, including Krispy Kremes pumpkin donuts, Keto pumpkin products, Dunkin’s new fall donuts, etc.
Palette
To take pumpkin spice a step further, Too Faced came out with a Pumpkin Spice makeup palette and lipstick shades, and there were a lot of posts on both YouTube and Twitter about the new launch.
Cold(And Brew)
The use of this word is mostly attributed to the buzz about the Pumpkin Cream Cold brew that has gained popularity, it is a newer drink that is giving people something new to try and review along with the classic Pumpkin Spice Latte.
Top Influencers
- ABC News(@ABC)-98/100
- CNN (@CNN) – 98/100 Influencer Score
- CNN International (@cnni) – 98/100 Influencer Score
- Business Insider(@businessinsider) – 96/100 Influencer Score
- Food and Wine (@foodandwine) – 96/100 Influencer Score
- Universal Orlando Resort(@UniversalORL)—95/100 Influencer
What were the influencers saying?
- Many of them were reporting that the infamous drink had returned and that it marks the earliest start to the pumpkin spice season.
- There was also discussion, specifically by Business Insider, that it was brought back early this year because of the desperate need for something positive to the year and the end of 2020
Sentiment
- The positive spike around August 25th is attributed to Starbucks bringing back pumpkin, and the second positive spike again around September 1st may be due to the switch to September, the month marking the transition from Summer to Fall(aka Pumpkin season).
- The negative spike on August 31st seems to be surrounding that it is too early to be celebrating Fall or that the flavor is taken too far.
- Although the majority positive, many users have negative things to say regarding all things pumpkin spice. Starbucks even got in on the conversation by tweeting that pumpkin spice “I am nice.”
- Even Al Roker, from the Today Show, got a lot of people agreeing with his “unpopular opinion” that he hates pumpkin spice. However, it seems like it is many more people that are in the “minority” of not liking pumpkin spice. Disliking pumpkin spice may not be as an unpopular opinion as thought.
- There were even many posts defending the pumpkin spice lovers against the haters after having such a challenging year in 2020
