Ah, only to pass on some knowledge. It's because their drinks are so sweet that with lighter roasts the sugar and syrup cover up the coffee. Most really good baristas will tell you the lighter the roast the more "flavorful" the coffee will be. Starbucks "intense flavor" is just folks confusing burned/overcooked beans for coffee flavor.

Granted, I'm really lucky to live in PDX because we have such good access to great coffee it's made more noticeable. In my youth, I was actually of the same mindset until drinking a lot of different coffee and discovering my "misguided" way ;-)