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Starbucks says its new Cake Pop is a bumblebee. The internet disagrees

Is Starbucks' new cake pop a happy bumblebee ... or is it an expressionless cat?
Starbucks says its new Cake Pop is a bumblebee.
The feline-like cake pop in question.TODAY Illustration / Starbucks

A new Starbucks dessert that's supposed to be a bumblebee is getting a lot of, well, buzz.

On May 9, Starbucks announced its summer menu, which includes two new drinks, the Chocolate Java Mint Frappuccino and the White Chocolate Macadamia Cream Cold Brew, as well as the now-infamous Bumblebee Cake Pop.

The Bumblebee Cake Pop is made of vanilla cake mixed with buttercream which is then dipped in yellow chocolaty icing and finished with a “bumblebee-face design,” according to the product page. And, though it’s official announcement was May 9, the sweet snack has been popping up on social media for a little while already.

Though a thorough look at the pop could lead one to believe the three lines under the eyes are supposed to represent a smile and two bee stripes, a spat of posts on the internet seem to disagree with that idea.

“Starbucks trying to tell me this a bumblebee,” tweeted one customer with a photo of the pop.

“They told us it was a bumblebee cake pop and that’s what it rang up as. i disagree,” tweeted another.

“Our new cake pop at starbucks looks so silly, like gurl this is not a bumblebee,” tweeted yet another person.

Reddit users have come together to conclude that the pop looks like anything but a bumblebee. Why does it have ears?

“This is not a bumblebee,” writes the original poster on one of a few Reddit posts discussing the new cake pop shape. While commenters haven't yet come to a quorum on what the pop actually looks like, there have been few popular guesses.

“I’ve been saying they could maybe market it as a tiger but absolutely not like a bumblebee,” wrote one Redditor, to which another replied, “I totally agree. It definitely looks like a terrified tiger.”

“I really thought it was Pikachu at first glance,” wrote another Redditor, not the only one to make that assessment.

“(It) looks like Tina Belcher to me,” wrote another Reddit user, referring to the popular "Bob’s Burgers" character. “It’s the Tina of cake pops!” said someone else.

“New cake pop feels like,” wrote one Redditor with the "Polite Cat" meme.

When reached for comment, a representative for Starbucks directed us to a press release featuring the product’s description. No comment on the internet’s reaction to its look, however.

Some eagle-eyed commenters also pointed out that the shape of the pop is similar to other cake pops Starbucks has offered in the past.

“It’s because they use the same mold as they do for all seasonal cake pops. Unicorn, reindeer, etc,” wrote one Reddit user, pointing out that the shape of past cake pops like the Unicorn and Reindeer share the same basic shape.

Starbucks also used this mold for the (actual) Cat Cake Pop it once offered.

“It started out as a cat cake pop, the OG use of the mold. It really just looks like a cat,” wrote another Reddit user who claims to be a Starbucks supervisor. “I don’t mind them using the molds they have rather than making new ones, but...just use the round mold sometimes too for seasonal items!”

Whatever you think the Bumblebee Cake Pop looks like — and a couple of people actually think it's cute — one commenter made a salient point about it that will really make you think.

“More important, why is not honey flavored?” asked the Reddit user, garnering a fair share of epiphany-laden agreements in the comments. “BEES MAKE HONEY. IT’S WHY WE LIKE THESE FUZZY INSECTS.”