First, a criticism. The bah-humbug cynicism is fueled by something Starbucks calls "Pass the Cheer." It's a holiday promotion the company started last year to encourage people to do good for others, which, as far as corporate promotions go, is a fairly nice one.

Interestingly enough, The Seattle Times story on the chains mentions the promotion only at the end, and stories in the Herald of Everett, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, WIS/10 in Miami and theAssociated Press don't bring it up at all.

The promotion changes the story. There are no reports of Starbucks employees having started, directly encouraged or coordinated the public chains of generosity. But through the promotion Starbucks is asking people to be nice to each other. Leaving the promotion out makes it seem like the customers' generosity had to come wholly from outside the company. The articles that didn't mention it, should have.

So here come the conspiracy theorists.

Citizen Rain and Radar Online both link to blogs and sites -- most notably the Starbucks Gossip Blog but also on MetaFilter -- where cynics, coffee lovers and baristas are batting around accusations that the chains are one big PR stunt and demonstrating, without really knowing it, just how much we can distrust a good thing purely because it carries a corporate logo.

It's a struggle for some to divorce Starbucks' primary mission, making money, from this promotional, global and otherwise noble call for goodness.

It's all about agenda, it seems: We presume your ordinary Good Samaritans don't have one. Or, that if they do, it's hardly worth noting. We give far more scrutiny to companies, whose primary agenda is making money -- ours. A good deed, then, is only as innocent as the perceived purity of its intention: If a person does it, we admire it. If a company does it, we suspect it.

And yet, it probably made people's day to be part of the mass Starbucks generosity chains. And it is really cool to know people can open up and do nice things for each other en masse like this. If their mother asked them to be nice, if Starbucks asked them to be nice, what's the difference? Branded goodness is still goodness, and can have all the same results as goodness.

Still, it's not the same. Or else we would have read the Starbucks "good stories," smiled, and moved on.

Here's a clip from the letter Starbucks sent me in November, along with my own "Pass the Cheer" card and a follow-up e-mail from a press representative to see if I wanted to blog about it:

Starbucks is starting off this holiday season with a worldwide call to "Pass the Cheer" -- a simple way to inspire you tos pread the sentiment of goodwill. Starbucks asks only one thing in return -- that the sentiment be continued in an effort to see just how far one act of cheer can go.

This year, more than two million Cheer Passes are being distributed in more than 40 countries and 16 languages launching a new global tradition. Over 1,500 cheer stories from around the world have already been shared online.

Enclosed is your own Cheer Pass to start your own chain. All you have to do is pass it to the person you hold the door open for or the co-worker you bring a coffee to. Visit www.ItsRedAgain.com and enter your Cheer Pass number ... and share your story of cheer. See just how far your chain of cheer can go that you helped create.

Have a happy holiday,

Your friends at Starbucks.

I've done my share of good things for people since the letter arrived and plan to do more, but am only now realizing the Cheer Pass is still in the envelope. Should I make it a point to take it out and pass along the Starbucks brand the next time I do something nice?