There is a frenzy within the country. One that people can be cognizant of without needing to join the frenzy. The hype of Stanley Cups has held our country in a lock-tight grip. And, no, not the Stanley Cup coveted by an entirely different fan base full of hockey players and fans. This is a craze over a tumbler that can ideally fit a Venti Starbucks drink inside of it. I can attest to this craze of how branding and social media have affected others and myself, and I am lucky enough to own two Stanley cups. I thought I was strong enough to be satisfied with my other overpriced water bottles, but impulsively, I grabbed a cup from the picked-over selection and bought one. And for the first few days, I drank more water than was necessary from said cup because I felt special.
The cup does not follow me to school, though. Because while I adore my hot pink Stanley, it is unnecessarily large. Its size does not allow for easy handling. Some might argue that I could have bought a smaller, more manageable Stanley cup. This is true, yet everyone knows that the Stanley cup that is the most trendy is the 40 oz Stanley with the side handle and the straw.
Recently, Starbucks and Target have come out with special editions of the Stanley cup. These editions offer glittery pink colors from Starbucks and a Valentine’s edition from Target. Target offers Target red and Cosmic Pink options in their Stanley x Target Valentine’s Day collaboration. During the week of January 6th, the “Winter Pink” cup was released, which was exclusively sold at Target. This frenzy developed into a craze, with hardcore fans lining the sidewalks to get their hands on an exclusive cup. Not only did many wake up in the wee morning hours to wait in line, but many would camp out and sleep through the night at a Target closest to them. The hype reached a climactic peak when physical fights broke out over the cup. According to CNBC, TikTok has given Stanley much of its popularity as Stanley’s annual sales are projected to hit $750 million. The Stanley Quencher, the official name of the water bottle, has become the most prized product coming out of 2023. Yet, the company that sells these water bottles is nothing new. In fact, William Stanley Jr. invented the Stanley cups in 1913, over a century ago.
When asked about the hyped-up Stanley cups, Geo Howell, a junior finds Stanley cups to be “stupid, but a good defensive item.” This is an interesting take on the cups due to their high price. Geo believes that he could find a cup of the same quality for a much cheaper price, but he thinks it would be a valuable defense against anyone who would try to hurt him. In a popular TikTok video where a woman’s car catches on fire, her Stanley was one of the only things that remained salvageable. This video garnered nearly 94 million views and even caught the Stanley company’s attention when it offered to replace the cup and her car. The hashtag #StanleyCup has amassed over 6.8 billion views on TikTok. Interestingly, this is not the first time a cup has taken over in the way the Stanley cup recently has. The Hydro Flask, now discarded, was once considered a trendy cup that signified a person’s popularity. The major flaw that undoubtedly became its Achilles heel was how wide its bottom was. This made it incapable of fitting in a cup holder of a car. The Stanley cup fits perfectly into a cup holder as it is engineered to taper off at the bottom. Attention has now slowly shifted towards the newest water bottle taking off: the Owala water bottle. So will the coveted Stanley cup remain popular, or will the Owala water bottle knock it off its pedestal?
