And when Starbucks wanted a logo to reflect the seafaring traditions of the coffee trade the mermaid seemed a perfect choice.
But the coffee chains’ recent revival of their original 35-year-old logo which depicts the legendary siren as a bare-breasted beauty has proved a little too racy for some.
A Christian group has called for a boycott of the global coffee chain because the new logo now shows the mermaid naked from the waist up, with only two thin locks of hair preserving her dignity.
The new Starbucks logo (left) is a rather more explicit version of the chain's existing design (right)
‘The Starbucks logo has a naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute,” complained Mark Dice, founder of the group Resistance.
“Need I say more? It’s extremely poor taste, and the company might as well call themselves Slutbucks.”
It is not as if Starbucks was entirely unaware of the possible furore their logo change might cause.
During brainstorming meetings for the logo relaunch the word ‘nipples’ was even banned for fear of offending some of those present.
The all-brown logo is a toned-down replica of the one the chain used when it opened its first store in Pike Place in Seattle in 1971.
The new version of the original logo now has strategically-placed locks of hair in order to placate easily-offended groups after some areas in Washington banned the bare-breasted coffee cups during a trial relaunch two years ago.
A temporary change, the revived logo will be used at chains in the US for the next few weeks.
A Starbucks spokesperson said: ‘We brought back the original logo in the US to celebrate our heritage and bring a little piece of Seattle to our US coffee houses.
‘We chose to alter our original logo based on customer feedback received during our 35th anniversary promotion in the US.’
‘There are no plans, at this time, to use Starbucks heritage logo in the UK.’
The name Starbucks comes from the name of the first mate in the classic novel, Moby Dick.
The relaunch comes as Starbucks' share price has more than halved over the past two years.
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