Stanley cups are the current “it” reusable water bottle of the moment, and in the last few weeks, we’ve seen them all over our feeds.
We’re all for reusables and making sustainability more popular. But excessive consumption and microtrends? Not so much.
From kitchen cabinets filled with Stanleys to dozens of limited-edition color releases, this social-media-fueled frenzy is the latest iteration of the Story of Stuff — a story of the underside of production and consumption patterns, and one we unpacked in our original, namesake video back in 2007.
Companies push rapid-pace consumer culture, marketing new things that we supposedly need in our lives. The trends swing fast from Barbie merch like pillows, electronic toothbrushes and even burgers (no, we’re not kidding) to Stanley cups to something new. All this so that we keep buying more Stuff.
And along with overconsumption comes more waste. What happens when the sun sets on a trendy product? Most of the products head to the landfill. It’s all part of the current unsustainable take-make-waste linear economy. But it shouldn’t have to be that way.
To us, the coolest reusable bottle is the one you, in fact, reuse over and over again.
Read More:
“The Big Problem With the Giant Stanley Cup” (Wired)
“How green are those Stanley tumblers that everyone wants thanks to TikTok?” (CBC News)