Not long ago, we were still snapping up Stanley insulated cups, a true cult product. A symbol of prestige, the viral accessory costs at least $50 CAN and signals a certain economic comfort.
Many pre-teens cried tears of joy when unwrapping their stainless steel water bottle at Christmas, while the marketing of a limited edition caused an uproar in the United States. People have gone so far as to camp out at Target store entrances to ensure they get their hands on one of the exclusive mugs. You could say that the object rose to legendary status last November, when a TikTok user posted a shocking video. We see a Stanley cup sitting in the cup holder of his burnt car. However, despite the fire test, ice cubes still clink inside the cup. An unexpected publicity stunt!
The company that manufactures Stanley cups then rushes to buy the victim a new car, thus transforming the fire into a fairy tale. Never has a cup looked so good.
However, the popularity of the Stanley Cup today seems to be waning. On TikTok, discomfited momfluencers throw their water bottles in the trash. What if such a turnaround revealed something about the forces at work in our society?
The first time I saw one of these cups was through “watertok,” a category of TikTok videos that sit at the intersection of diet culture and the wellness industry. They feature women concocting potions of flavored cold water.
By sharing their mixtures of sweet powders and aspartame syrups, the latter transform the injunction to hydrate into a spectacle of consumption.
Created by women for women, their videos helped propel the popularity of Stanley cups, an essential watertok accessory. It must be said that even today, it is mainly women who manage household purchases. In fact, these consumers have the power to galvanize the sales of the products on which they set their sights.
The power of women on social media
This is a lesson that the manufacturer of the Stanley cup will surely not soon forget. The century-old company originally targeted a male clientele, focused on the outdoors. In 2016, when the “Stanley Quencher” arrived on the market, it was not a commercial success. Sales are so bad that we even stop making it. However, the luxurious bottle caught the eye of the three women behind the shopping blog The Buy Guide. The latter are convinced of its commercial potential, especially among female customers. They therefore convinced the company to continue producing “Stanley Quencher”, which they sold on their website, in return for a commission. This is the beginning of a triumph that highlights the power of influence of women on social networks, and more specifically that of Mormon mothers.
PHOTO FREDERIC J. BROWN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
The popularity of the Stanley Cup seems to be waning today.
While The Buy Guide does not explicitly display its ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, most of the influencers with whom the blog partners to popularize the Stanley Cup come from Utah. , a predominantly Mormon American state. Since Mormons are not supposed to drink hot beverages or alcohol, a veritable soda culture has developed in the land. There are therefore drive-thru chains in Utah that specialize in dirty sodascustomizable soft drinks that insulated cups like Stanley allow you to keep cold.
What’s more, many Mormon women document their family lives and spending habits on social media. It is a way for them to disseminate their religious values and instill faith.
Evolving in a patriarchal structure which prevents them from accessing the priesthood (and the decision-making power associated with it), they cultivate another form of power: that of influence. Consequently, today they are at the root of many of the trends popularized on our platforms.
The end of the craze?
TikTok’s flow of algorithmic recommendations fosters the phenomenon of social contagion set in motion by Utah’s momfluencers. Thus, marginal consumption habits can very quickly be adopted massively.
However, the greater the enthusiasm generated by an object, the more likely it will prove to be fleeting. The market quickly saturates, the favorite product goes out of fashion. But we no longer just lose interest in it, we sometimes “cancel” it altogether.
Everything happens as if the merchandise undergoes the same media cycle as our favorite influencers, those we hoist on pedestals only to knock them down.
This is now the fate of the Stanley cup, which is accused of containing lead. According to the company that manufactures it, the stainless steel that covers it would, however, prevent consumers from coming into contact with the harmful substance. But it doesn’t matter, since on my screen, momfluencers equipped with lead detection kits are already swarming. It’s a safe bet that they will soon throw their old love in the trash… and praise a new reusable cup to the skies, thereby contradicting the ecological principle of reuse.