Shopping Frenzy Erupts Over ... This Cup?

Stanley tumblers sell out at Target, resell online at much higher prices
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 5, 2024 12:26 PM CST
Thanks to Influencers, These Cups Are Big Sellers
The coveted cup.   (Target)

If you thought a relatively quiet Black Friday meant shoppers had grown beyond trampling people to get their hands on goods, think again. Target shoppers say they've endured long lines, pushing and shoving, and apparently some trampling in a rush to get limited edition Stanley cups, and no, we are not talking about the NHL trophy, but a beverage container of all things. In recent years, young people have come to covet products offered by century-old drinkware company Stanley, particularly the Quencher H2.0 line of drink tumblers, which were "seemingly the most popular holiday gift among Gen Z," per the New York Post.

"Thousands of videos on TikTok feature excited teens and young people showing off their massive collections, crying when unboxing a gifted tumbler or throngs of people rushing stores for limited edition colors," per USA Today. When Target partnered with Stanley to offer $45 tumblers in "Cosmo Pink" and "Target Red" as part of a Valentine's Day collection that launched on New Year's Eve, the items flew off shelves. Victoria Robino, who shared a TikTok video of a mass of people crowded around one display at a Target store in Goodyear, Arizona, said the collection "sold out in less than four minutes," per the Post. Footage from another store showed a man trying to steal a box of pink tumblers, per TMZ.

Some limited edition tumblers are now offered on eBay for hundreds of dollars, per TMZ. Jenna Drenten, an associate professor of marketing at Loyola University Chicago, tells USA Today that Stanley "partnered with influencers and leveraged existing online chatter" to move its products "from something useful to something aspirational," with limited edition colors "creating both scarcity and novelty." Yet to those on the outside, the craze for vacuum-insulated tumblers that keep a drink hot or cold for hours appears rather, well, crazy. "I still can't wrap my head around paying that much for a cup," reads a comment on Robino's video, per People. Other comments describe the scene as "stupid" and "embarrassing." (More shoppers stories.)

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