The Fall of the Stanley?
by: Maya Swan and Maeve O’Connell (7th)
Everybody is well aware of the viral cup, the Stanley. They have been sweeping the internet and taking over social media, but it seems that videos have been getting millions of views saying that these cups may be dangerous. Dropping your water bottle, or having it fall off your desk is a common occurrence that can sometimes dent it if it’s made of the kind of material that a Stanley is. Aside from making a loud, obnoxious noise it may be deadly.
Many TikToks have been going viral with people getting a lead test and swabbing the bottom of their Stanleys and the swab immediately turning a dark red, signifying that there is indeed lead. Lead is a very toxic substance that can cause nervous system damage, brain damage, lowering your IQ, developmental setbacks, learning disabilities and even death if ingested. Stanley has confirmed that their cups do indeed contain lead. Part of the reason people love the cup is because it keeps their drink cold over extended periods of time.
In order to achieve this Stanley has to seal their cups with a pellet that contains some lead. If your Stanley is often falling off of desks or tables then you are at risk of the pellet leaking the lead and you may come into contact with it. Overall, if the pellet is not exposed, you can continue to enjoy drinking out of a Stanley until it inevitably joins the Hydro Flasks, Yetis and other past popular water bottles in the back of the cabinet.
Over the years, we’ve all seen the water bottles fade in and out of popularity, but very few have ever done it because of a safety hazard. Most of them are still around, just they aren’t the main focus, and they got their turn already. The issue is, even if the lead isn’t exposed, since all of the faithful Stanley fans are now aware of the problem, it could result in a lowered popularity, since it is now known as dangerous.
The fact that it has lead, and it could leak out makes people nervous to use them again, since they won’t be able to know if it’s safe or not, even if they don't often drop it. You may have seen the new Hydro Flask ads which take advantage of the Stanley’s situation and say that their cups are lead free, next to a photo of their version of the Stanley.
But surprisingly, no company has come out with the big, new water bottle to be the mascot of millennial women and “preppies.”