The Hype Behind Stanley Cups

Remember your sipper bottles from when you were a Kid?

Guess what, now they cost around 8,000 rupees after a makeover and have 1.9 million posts on Instagram. These are nowadays called the Stanley cups, but what's so special about them?

Everyone's been carrying it around, and I was wondering, why hasn't the hype died?

Because the Stanley quencher launched way back in 2016. But in 2023, after a perfect storm of TikTok buzz, pastel colours, and limited editions, it exploded. Taking sales from 75 million dollars to 750 million dollars. Suddenly, holding a thermos became a status symbol.

Now in India, you'll find 1,000 rupees Stanley lookalikes in metros, offices, or college campuses. And the more people carry them, the more others want one. But why? It's because of something called the mimetic desire, a concept by philosopher Rene Girard. It says we don't desire things independently; we want things that others seem to want. Same reason everyone plans that Goa road trip or walks around with Starbucks.

And if you're building anything, a product or a brand, that's something worth paying attention to. Desire spreads socially and it is high time people start to look at it that way.