The ‘Stanley Quencher,’ through a calculative yet questionable roadmap to success, earned mass appeal in the U.S. over the past year. The fad soon spread globally. Look around your classrooms, and you’re bound to find a Quencher on any random desk. In the midst of the Stanley boom, my mom surprised me with my very own tumbler. Naive as any typical parent, she didn’t realize that her purchase coincided with the newest TikTok craze. But from a historical reputation of durability, to artificially high prices fueled by social media algorithms, the convenient cup’s hype furrowed the brows of outsiders. 

Some people state that the trendy product seems overpriced. Ads for Stanley flood the younger generation’s social media accounts. “I think it’s very overpriced and doesn’t have the necessary things to be that highly-priced. I think this because the advertisement is too exaggerated. A normal water bottle can do almost exactly the same thing with it. Buy normal water bottles, there’s no use buying Stanley, it’s just advertisements that are brainwashing you,” freshman Justin Son said. 

Others, however, point out the bottle’s usefulness for hydration. They say that the water bottle encourages them to drink more water than the amount they usually drink. “Sometimes it’s easy for me to drink because it has a straw. I usually don’t really drink water a lot, but this water bottle encourages me to drink more water than normal. I think it’s worth the money,” Mary Kong in sixth grade said. 

However, on Coupang, the price reaches almost 50,000 won for a single bottle. But the cup sells out quickly, and the resale market sees prices sour to over $70 (around 90,000 won). The Starbucks collab version resells at the price of a whopping 800 US dollars. The Instagram-influenced trend inflates prices beyond a cost-effective or affordable option. It’s simple math: the average 2.2-liter water bottle on Amazon sells for $19 while Stanley’s largest size, under 1 liter, sells at absurd prices, especially at the secondhand market. 

Supporters of this viral water bottle say that they only have to fill up their bottle once or twice in a day, which conveniently saves time for them. Some buy it for the insulated feature. “I think the Stanley is interesting because I once put ice in there and I slept. When I woke up it was still there so I think it’s really good in terms of a tumbler. However, it’s good but overpriced because of the fact that it’s very famous on social media these days,” Sophie Lee in ninth grade said. 

The initial craze spread like wildfire when, quite literally, a Stanley Cup survived a fire. But when the bottle was put to a test by a YouTuber from several stories high, it failed to outlast the experiment. Cheaper options for tumblers can live through conditions just as extreme. Save your money. 

The love affair of this trend surpassed healthy boundaries at record speed. The incomprehensible buzz caused devotees to don their bottles with accessories such as mini hats and sparkly charms. Some users laminated the label of the limited edition cups to preserve it. 

Even though the Stanley Cup appeals to the masses and seems to fulfill its advertised duties, this everlasting water bottle seems over-hyped. Remember the Hydro Flask mania from just a few short years ago? Stanley knocked them over this past year. Will something replace this newest fad? Or is Stanley here to stay? Spend 50,000 won and put it to the test for yourself.