Yes, it’s a portable receptacle for beverages with a handle – which is pretty much the definition of a cup, but the suddenly ubiquitous Stanley Quencher is so, so much more. Just listen to its Amazon listing (85% 5-star reviews) describing the marvels “Your Dream Tumbler” contains “whichever way your day flows”.
Readers whose days flow in one direction or another are invited to get in touch and tell us what that even means.
With its “Double Wall Vacuum Insulation” and Advanced Lid Construction, “Whether you prefer small sips or maximum thirst quenching” truly your cup runneth over, or rather it won’t, with its “full-cover top for added leak resistance”.
Originally available in the Stanley Company’s iconic – there, I said it – hammertone green, it began to be available in 2016 as a Quencher, with a handle – so you can carry it! – and a tapered base to fit your car’s cup holder.
Starting in 2019, new colours were added to the range and with each one, sales increased so Stanley’s annual revenue grew from US$73 million in 2019 to US$750 million in 2023. Truly, this is the holy grail of cups.
Most recently, there has been a storm in a Stanley cup with a claim that the things contain lead. According to Newshub.co.nz: “Videos on social media sites such as TikTok show people breaking out a lead testing kit and trying it on their Stanley cups and other travel flasks.”
(If you’re getting your health and safety information from TikTok, it’s possible you’re not properly hydrated. You might need a bigger cup.)
The Stanley people responded that, yes, there is some lead in the base but “no lead is present on the surface of any Stanley product that comes into contact with the consumer nor the contents of the product.” That was a relief. But it didn’t stop Newshub going on to point out that lead “can lead to kidney problems, anaemia, reproductive issues and developmental problems”.
Nevertheless, sales don’t show any sign of slowing down. The Stanley Cup has become as much a status symbol of our times as NFTs, private jets and superyachts – all now sadly out of fashion - were in days gone by.
The speed with which the thing has spread has not gone unnoticed. Normally sane media such as The New York Times, Slate.com, The Atlantic, the New Zealand Herald and now even listener.co.nz, which once gave their acres of analysis over to discussion of changing work patterns, international relations, and economic outlook, with Oscar tips thrown in for light relief, have become obsessed with the Stanley.
“The Stanley thing, to me, seems largely stochastic in its specificity,” noted The Atlantic in a sentence that would drive many people to drink, whether from a Stanley cup or straight out of the bottle.
The Guardian, well-established as the gloomy Eeyore of print media, questioned the reusable cup’s environment credentials “when people are collecting a Quencher (plus endless accoutrements) to match every outfit”.
The cup’s time in the sun has at least partly been prompted by – what else? – a viral video which showed customers at a US Target department store near-rioting as they fought to be first to get a new version of the cup when it was released. Before that, there was the strange story of the Mormon Moms, which had embraced soft drinks big time when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints recently eased up its rules about caffeine. They were big adopters of big cups, and the Stanley Quencher was perfect of them.
It was also perfect for social media virality because its size means an influencer can display it without obscuring any part of their own fabulously toned, skimpily clad self.
One of the reasons for its prestige is that at $80, given it’s a drink bottle – sorry, cup – it’s really expensive. But it’s also, as status symbols go, so cheap that lots of people can afford it. Not everyone, but certainly more than could spring for a superyacht.
But in a concerning development which has gone down like a lead Quencher, the cups have cost some people their jobs. Workers at a Target store were fired for using their insider status to buy desirable new models before regular consumers could get their frenetic mitts on them. One such employee told Business insider that “they were unaware that the item was high profile”. Really? Where had they been? Obviously not at work.
What does the future hold for the Stanley cup? It’s a rule of marketing that where there is a market-leading product there will be room for a competitor – think Coke and Pepsi, Marvel and DC. The smart money at The New York Times is on the Owala brand, whose most popular item “is its FreeSip model, which is designed to let you either sip or chug as you see fit”.
Sip or chug? Game changer.
