An essential hydration tool or an oversized sippy cup?
The Stanley cup is the new, up-and-coming icon of the consumerism industry and currently, Gen Z’s latest obsession. Not to be confused with the annual National Hockey League championship (sorry Mr. Hathaway), but the Stanley most of us know and love is a 40-ounce, straw-and-handle-quipped tumbler. In the past couple of months, this social media sensation has also managed to take BCA by storm.
To the observant eye, it might have been fairly easy to notice the growing collection of tumblers populating cafeteria tables and hallways alike. Frequently seen swinging around comfortably in the hands of students ambling onto their next class, spotting even one of these conspicuously big bottles certainly hasn’t been a rare sight. In fact, some teachers are even jumping on the trend, like BCA English teacher Ms. Kouefati, whose Stanley cup can oftentimes be seen sitting at the corner of her desk when she’s not sipping away during work hours.
Such a sudden surge in traction has definitely mystified many onlookers who struggle to understand the lore behind a seemingly ordinary tumbler. While it may be true that these stainless steel cups live up to their promise of double-walled vacuum insulation—which is the technology responsible for keeping drinks both cold and hot for so long—many are skeptical that the cup’s function alone can attract this huge of a crowd.
“It’s cuter.”
“I think it’s prettier which makes it easier to drink more water.”
“The handle also makes it pretty. I think if it didn’t have a handle it would’ve looked ugly”
Countless BCA students shared their sentiments about the cups, and when asked to note what made the Stanley so much better than a traditional water bottle, the majority of comments tended to discuss the cup’s aesthetic allure. According to them, having a bottle that looked good was just as important as having one with proper functionality.
The Stanley cup definitely has a distinct audience; while water bottles are definitely for everyone, it seems that a largely female demographic has claimed this particular brand and its most popular product—the Adventure Quencher Tumbler.
According to the New York Times, the rise of the Stanley cup can be credited to the women running the blog, The Buy Guide, and the hundreds and thousands of other women who responded to the remarkable marketing strategy they undertook with Stanley to shift their target audience from outdoorsy men to millennial and Gen Z women. It can be observed that most Stanley users at BCA are also, by majority, female students and teachers.
Many young consumers speculate that the bottle’s popularity originated from TikTok, the short-form video sharing app that students are all-too familiar with. These assumptions likely derive from the platform Stanley cups have acquired on the app, especially through trends like #WaterTok as well as GRWM (Get Ready With Me) videos. In January of this year, The Guardian then reported that videos of the Stanley cups on Tiktok had been viewed more than 201.4 million times.
“Tiktok influenced me,” freshman student Ashna Patel shared.
In Ashna’s case, she had opted for Stanley’s IceFlow Flip Straw Tumbler when choosing a cup, which is a variation of the classic tumbler that features a folding handle and flippable straw. “I wanted something that had the design of a Stanley but was easier to carry around,” she explained.
Despite these cups being so coveted, a fair number of students also expressed certain downsides of the Stanley. For one, the cup’s abnormally large size can prove to be a problem for on-the-go students.
“I stopped using my Stanley because it was just too big and I couldn’t bring it to school. I also kept denting it while walking around the school,” said Audrey Kim, a sophomore at BCA.
It also appears that these tumblers are not as fool-proof as they claim to be.
In any case, the Stanley could be viewed more as a symbolic accessory than just a water bottle. There certainly continues to be a stir surrounding its popular status among the youth, and this fame sometimes even comes with its disadvantages.
“I feel like people judge others for having it,” Ashna said. “But, I mean, it’s just a water bottle. People are making it a big deal for no reason, when it’s just a water bottle that is doing really well. The same reaction came when the hydroflask became a hit, but now they’ve stopped caring. So I think that, eventually, other people will stop caring about Stanleys too.”
At the very least, we can ensure that BCA students will be staying hydrated and healthy for the coming months ahead!
