Why people are camping on target for the Valentine’s Day Stanley Tumbler

The next time you go to Target, you may need to wear a helmet. The store sells them, now that I think about it.

The reason is that Stanley, the company known for trendy cups, released special cups this week – a collaboration with Starbucks – for Valentine’s Day. It caused an uproar at multiple Target stores across the country. There has been a steady stream of videos on social media showing customers nearly colliding with each other or otherwise crowding the store to get their own 40-ounce pink or red water cup. Some even camp – camping! – outside Target to be sure they can get one.

If this all sounds like we’re speaking a different language or you’re confused by the videos that have popped up on your social media feeds, we’re here to help.

Who is Stanley?

Well, Kubrick was the legendary director. Then there is Flat Stanley, who traveled the world after an unfortunate journey meeting with a notice boardand then there is –

No, the cups.

Oh sorry. Naturally. Stanley, which sells primarily bottle-adjacent products and is headquartered in Seattle, has been around for more than a century and was the brainchild of inventor William Stanley Jr. In 1913, he combined vacuum insulation and steel to create a water bottle. For most of its existence, the company catered to outdoorsmen.

But in 2017, a shift occurred. The Buy Guide, a blog that recommends products for consumers, featured Stanley’s 40-ounce Quencher cup, call it “the only one” in an Instagram post. This was a stroke of luck for Stanley, who did not heavily promote the bottle. It was a little noticed product when it was released the year before. Two years later, the team behind The Buy Guide – two sisters and their cousin – reached a deal with Stanley to sell the cups wholesale and quickly sold 5,000 copies.

“The brand has really shifted from marketing to men and women,” Shelley E. Kohan, professor of retail management at Syracuse University, said of Stanley.

The partnership became exponentially more fruitful as The Buy Guide helped bring Stanley products to their audience, primarily women. And Stanley made the Quencher a priority by releasing it in different colors.

(Our own Wirecutter review: “The Adventure Quencher is good! But it’s also overhyped and, depending on how you plan to use the tumbler, may not be a worthwhile purchase.”)

What role did social media play in Stanley’s recent rise?

Influencer culture was central. Content creators picked up the bottle and started sharing it, especially on TikTok and Instagram. #StanleyTumbler became a popular hashtag, used millions of times. The cup has become a fashion accessory and a collector’s item.

“The influencers are big influencers, but it’s also you and me, the consumer, making videos about their experiences with the Stanley Cup, for example,” Ms. Kohan said.

Not to mention, drinking water has itself become a strange thing on social media. There is a corner of TikTok called WaterTok where people demonstrate different beautiful ways to hydrate. (Aliens wanting to invade us, mind-boggling social trends are all part of the package!)

In 2020, the Quencher became Stanley’s best-selling product, coinciding with the hiring of Terence Reilly, a former executive of shoe company Crocs, as president of the company. Sales of the product shot up 275 percent between 2020 and 2021.

Haha. A Stanley cup.

Everyone has already made that joke. It’s not really a cup!

Okay fine. What about Valentine’s Day cups?

It’s never too early to moisturize for love, which is why, I think, the special edition cup was released in late December, well over a month before Valentine’s Day. Target is marketing the limited-edition cups as part of an “exclusive Galentine’s Collection.”

The $45 dollar cups are sold out on Target’s website. (The company did not respond to a question about how many cups had already been sold and whether more would be produced.)

There is a scarcity effect here on consumers, especially women, which has driven the craze, Ms. Long said.

“Now this reusable cup becomes a fashion accessory like a handbag or belt,” Ms. Long said. Add a special color or a limited edition, and it’s a “fashion frenzy,” she added.

You can always buy the cups on eBay, where they are currently selling for hundreds of dollars in some cases.

Is there a new water bottle king on the horizon?

Since becoming a fashion accessory, the water bottle has become a status symbol. The colors are important. The size and shape and how it fits with an outfit. And status symbols are malleable as trends change. (The term “emotional support water bottle” is not unheard of.)

Meet Owala, a water bottle brand that started in 2020 and has become a household name In thirst quencher. The bottle that has become the most popular is the FreeSip model, which is designed to let you sip or chug at your leisure. Hashtags with the brand’s name have been viewed at least tens of millions of times on TikTok alone this year. (The company has 150,000 followers there and 244,000 on Instagram.) And there’s been a celebrity boost: both ‘N Sync’s Lance Bass and the author Samantha Irby named Owala bottles as one of their favorite items in The Strateeg.

On Amazon, tens of thousands of people have left five-star reviews for the bottles.

The company hasn’t caused any camping outside of department stores yet, but it’s still early in 2024.