The poster, which was displayed in Starbucks stores in the US and Canada, showed two cups sitting side by side in long grass, with a dragonfly above them, and the tagline "Collapse into cool".
Although the company said no customers had complained about the ad, which promoted Starbuck's iced-tea drinks, a New York Post reader had written to the newspaper to complain about it.
Starbucks said that it never intended to be insensitive or offensive. A spokeswoman said: "As a responsible company, we want to ensure that nobody is offended". She added that all 3,000 stores in North America had been instructed to pull the poster.
The company has already been in trouble over the September 11 attacks, after an employee at one of its lower-Manhattan stores charged emergency workers to take water to victims of the attacks at Ground Zero.
Starbucks subsequently apologised and returned the money.
At the same time, Starbucks released a press release saying it had closed all its stores on the day of the attacks, which some perceived as patting itself on the back.
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