Why are People so Obsessed With Stanleys
Most people have seen or heard of the 40 oz metal tumbler cups from the Stanley brand. Stanley has been around since 1913, but the brand has taken over social media in recent years with its Quencher Cups. The company originally targeted outdoorsy people because of the durability of its products. The cups are made for backpacking and hiking.
In 2020, Terence Reilly, the former Chief Marketing Officer for Crocs became the president of Stanley, and he leaned into social media influencers’ marketing to increase sales. This quickly caught on, particularly on TikTok, and the 40oz Quencher cup started flying off shelves. In previous years the company had not done well with marketing and made few sales, but now they primarily use influencers and social media to market their products. In addition, Stanley started to target women over men by releasing the Quencher Cup in various colors. The cup turned into an accessory and a collectible. In 2020 the Quencher Cup became Stanley’s top selling product.
Carolina Kyoung, a TikTok creator who makes videos on these tumblers, has over 100 Stanleys that she proudly displays on acrylic shelves. Another creator, Holly Snyder, claims to have 539. The 40 oz cups are priced around $40-$60, so these collections are worth thousands of dollars.
Even though these cups seem a little gimmicky, they are high quality and reliable. They are known to keep ice all day and keep hot things hot for long periods. Stanley's tagline is “#BuiltForLife,” but what does this mean when people have a ridiculous number of them? When people have such a large volume of cups the question comes up for the environmental effects. In 10 years how many Stanley cups will be in a landfill? According to the Stanley website, they prioritize using recycled materials and hope to have 50% of their products made from recycled materials by 2025. So it’s safe to say that Stanley is an environmentally cautious brand, but what does that mean when their customers own hundreds of cups?
The cup has become such a big status symbol that when Stanley comes out with a new color or design, it’s no surprise that they fly off shelves. This happened with the limited-edition Valentine's Day cups. Target partnered with Starbucks to make these special additional cups part of the Target “Galentines” collection and quickly sold out in-store and online. Target has not said whether they will be restocking them, but a Starbucks representative said that no more would be made. Many people waited outside of the store hours before opening and even camped overnight to be first in line to get one of these limited-edition Quencher cups. Victoria Robino filmed people running to get a special edition cup. The video now has 30.5 million views and 1.6 million likes.
If you are not lucky enough to get one of these limited edition cups or want to avoid camping outside Target, you can purchase one of these cups for $80-$100 on resale websites. Certainly, some people are willing to pay the price.
By Sophie Balmes