I recently bought a Stanley cup. I was finally influenced by all of the commentary on the cup’s functionality and aesthetic, but I cannot pretend this is my first time falling for “cup propaganda.”
I have given in to the many different cup trends, like the CamelBak in middle school, the Hydro Flask in high school and now the Stanley cup. This cup in particular is appealing for multiple reasons, including the fact that the cup comes in the perfect shade of sandy pink, making it the perfect addition to all the other pink things I own. The cup can contain a whopping 40 ounces of liquid, meaning I really only need to fill the cup up 3 times to drink the daily recommended amount of water. Not only is this more convenient than constantly refilling a smaller water bottle, but it also makes it easier to track my water intake. Further, such a large cup often will not fit in a car, but because of the design of the Stanley cup, it will fit perfectly in most car’s cup holders. The handle on the side of the cup makes it easier to have a firm grip and hopefully will help mitigate the embarrassing moment when you drop a metal cup in class. These are all just a few perks that interested me about the cup, so I caved and bought into a cup trend perpetuated by mainstream pop culture and influencers on TikTok.
Like the girls I was secretly jealous of, I now carry my Stanley around campus and struggle to place the large cup on the tiny desks at Saint Louis University. This might be a small disadvantage of the cup, but overall I have seen many positives that the influencers sometimes leave out. For one, while it may be obvious, my water actually does remain very cold all day. Even when I leave the cup in my car on a hot day, the water is still cold hours later–and the water does not taste like metal either.
Second, it is surprisingly easy to sip water out of the straw. Very little suction is required to drink from the cup, which might decrease the likelihood of developing wrinkles around the mouth from drinking out of a straw (if you’re worried about that after seeing that one TikTok video).
Finally, this cup allows me to connect to other girls all around the world who are also falling for cup trends. While these trends might cause harm, I also see a strong sense of girlhood and an ability to unite through silly things such as what cups are trending.
While I can identify many positive aspects of the Stanley cup, it is clear that influencers, media and capitalism are working together to create a culture of overconsumption. Cups are micro trends now, in one day and out the next. Keeping up with the newest cup trend is almost impossible. One day the Hydro Flask is trending, the next it is the Yeti cup, another day the Owala is the best cup on the market and then the next, the Stanley is the cup of the moment. Tomorrow the trend may change entirely. This pattern is dangerous and leads to people overconsuming, buying more cups than they actually need in order to keep up with the trend. While reusable cups are in theory good for the environment and are definitely better than throwing away a plastic water bottle multiple times a day, this glorification of microtrends is not sustainable. It is fun to buy into these trends, but consumers must be aware of the impact of overbuying and overconsuming just because something is trending on TikTok or your favorite influencers are raving about a new cup. Sure, one new cup every now and then will not have a devastating impact, but buying five or six Stanley cups today just because you need every color then buying five Owala cups next week when they are the influencer cup of the week is not that pattern that we should be promoting.
It may be a mystery why cups cycle on such short trends, but being conscious as a consumer will allow you to still participate in these trends while making efforts to be sustainable. While I am not here to de-influence you, I am here to caution you moving forward. Before buying that new trendy cup, consider if you will still enjoy that cup next week or even next year. Slowing down and making conscious choices will allow you to still participate in this trend and unite over fun and functional cups, participating in a part of girlhood. Despite the fact I was influenced by a trend, I still love my new cup and ultimately, I am just like other girls.