Well, here's a plot twist in the Stanley cup frenzy: Despite the goodwill that the company has recently built up through social media, establishing the Stanley as the status water container of the moment, it's now facing a lead scandal after videos of people lead-testing their cups circulated online.
Some of these videos, like a popular one from Tamara Rubin, who has built a brand around raising lead awareness under the name Lead Safe Mama, aren't new; hers, which has over 500,000 views, was uploaded in March 2023. It shows Rubin swabbing a metal pellet at the bottom of the cup and getting a positive lead reading. That being said, she mentions having cracked off the round, logo-bearing metal cover at the bottom of the cup in order to access the pellet. Some creators who swabbed the parts of the cup you're more likely to come into contact with didn't get positive lead readings.
This increased scrutiny has come hand-in-hand with surges of new attention on Stanley. Earlier this month, the cup made headlines nationally after shoppers stormed Targets in search of a limited-edition pink Stanley x Starbucks collab. Catapulted by TikTok stardom, in 2023, the company made 10 times its 2022 revenue, according to Time. The company even inspired a Saturday Night Live sketch parodying the public's fascination with "big dumb cups."
A Stanley representative told Charlotte, North Carolina's WCNC that "no lead is present on the surface of any Stanley product that comes into contact with you or the contents of your container." The company explained that it seals its stainless steel products "with an industry-standard pellet that includes some lead. The pellet is completely enclosed by a stainless-steel cover, making it inaccessible to consumers." The company's website notes that the pellet seals the vacuum insulation. (The Stanley cup's insulation is one of the features people love: In November, a hugely viral video showed a Stanley that still contained ice, even after the car that it was in caught on fire.)
Despite Stanley's statement, other creators have shown that this cover can come off on its own, exposing the pellet. That's what can be risky: "If the cup stays intact, there's likely no lead exposure risk for consumers. But if that bottom seal comes off, all bets are off," Jane Houlihan, research director for Healthy Babies, Bright Futures, an alliance that works to reduce babies' exposure to chemicals that are toxic to brain development, told CNN. As Lifehacker has pointed out, this damage to the Stanley cup falls under the company's warranty-eligible repairs, though there's a high volume of these claims right now.
Even if their cups are undamaged and don't test positive for lead, some Stanley fans are feeling less enthusiastic. But one status water vessel's loss becomes another's marketing opportunity: Hydroflask, which had its time as the It bottle a few years ago, shared on Instagram that its bottles are lead-free. In 2012, Hydroflask "pioneered a new process that sealed [its] bottles without the use of lead," it explained. Owala, the rising successor to Stanley's throne, also clarified that its bottles are lead-free: "Always have been. Always will be."
Ah, yes, now everyone who was planning to swap out their Stanley for a cooler, trendier new cup has a new excuse.
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