In scenes resembling Black Friday rushes of old, online videos show customers rushing shelves and lining up early at Targets around the country, including some parts of Ohio.
The hot item worth getting up before dawn for? A pink cup that costs $50. Yeti Thermos
The pink Stanley tumblers were part of a limited Target and Starbucks collaboration. It will not be restocked and is only available for sale “while supplies last.” Target’s website shows that the tumblers are already out of stock at every store around Columbus. If you really need one, your best bet is probably the secondary market — eBay or Facebook marketplace — where cups are fetching as much as $100.
New:$329 for a Starbucks x Stanley tumbler? Why it's not weird people are fighting over cups.
Viral videos showed crowds of customers snatching the tumblers off a display shelf. Another TikTok user filmed herself lining up outside Target early in the morning, receiving a ticket and exchanging it for a pink Stanley.
If the words “Stanley tumbler” bring to mind a rugged green insulated mug suitable for bringing on a camping trip, you’re not alone – several TikTok users have posted videos claiming their request for a Stanley tumbler this Christmas resulted in the old-school thermos appearing under the tree.
Stanley launched its more modern “quench” line with the sleek straw cups in 2016.
The tumblers come in a variety of colors and range from small to large to giant. The most popular size is the $45 40-ounce Stanley Adventure Quencher H2.0 FlowState Tumbler, but the cups come as small at 15 ounces and as large as 64 ounces.
Despite launching in 2016 during a boom in health-conscious water-guzzling, it would be years before the Stanley tumbler took on viral acclaim. 2016 was the year of the S’well, a wine-bottle-shaped insulated tumbler that came in a variety of colors and patterns.
Then, in 2019, the hot accessory was the Hydro Flask. Unlike the narrow S’well, the Hydro Flask’s wide mouth easily fits ice cubes. Young people posted videos with Hydro Flasks covered in stickers.
But according to millions who posted about the Stanley tumbler, this new cup is the one to rule them all. Users have cited the straw and the handle – suitable for both right- and left-handed people – and the fact that the bottles fit easily in car cupholders, unlike the wider Hydro Flask.
The tumbler was a big ticket item for holiday gifts, featuring heavily on gift guides for influenced tweens.
Another viral moment came when a woman’s car caught fire. In a video posted to TikTok, she showed that her Stanley tumbler that had been in the cup holder still had ice in it. The president of the company was so impressed, that he offered to buy the woman a new car.
Stanley also featured heavily in a viral food craze over the summer: WaterTok. The divisive trend involved mostly women mixing syrups and fancy ice with water in their Stanley tumblers, leading to debates about consumerism and how much you can add to a bottle of water before it stops being water.
The cup’s obsessive following has drawn backlash, though. Videos of Stanley fans with rainbows of Stanleys shelved in their kitchens have drawn accusations of overconsumption – after all, how many water bottles does one need?
Whether the Stanley has any staying power or will go the way of the S’well and Hydro Flask remains to be seen. Discount retailers such as Marshalls and TJ Maxx already stock plenty of Hydro Flask tumblers and Stanley lookalikes.
Some water bottle aficionados have already moved on. The Owala 40-ounce straw tumbler at $38 has been featured in viral videos this year as a cheaper, lower profile water tumbler alternative.
250 Ml Water Bottle And the Owala, users point out, is leakproof.