The maker of Stanley cups, a brand that has grown virally popular on social media, is now facing a lawsuit by four women in California who are seeking class action status. According to Reuters, the women said the company misled consumers by failing to disclose the Stanley cup product contains a toxic substance — lead.
“PMI kept customers in the dark so as not to interfere with its bonanza of influencer-driven sales, especially sales to young women,” the lawsuit said.
John Rushing, the lawyer representing the four women, said it comes down to honesty. Stanley “could have been honest with customers,” he told Reuters, but “chose not to.”
The women seek both punitive and compensatory damages, as well as a permanent injunction that requires the company to disclose the presence of lead in its products within the state of California.
The company’s website, however, states lead is present within the cup’s seal for vacuum insulation, but “no lead is present on the surface of any Stanley product that comes into contact with the consumer nor the contents of the product.”
Stanley cups have grown into a viral social media trend this year, with videos circulating online of people stealing and fighting over the branded tumblers. According to CNBC, the company’s shift from marketing to women instead of men has lead to an increase in revenue by nearly $750 million over the past years.
Ohio resident and mother Dayna Motycka has since grabbed social media’s attention for her viral TikTok admission that her child was being bullied at school for not having a Stanley cup.
“This is the cup that we got our daughter for Christmas,” Motycka said in the video, which has more than 3 million views. “This is not a Stanley. It’s a $9.98 Walmart cup that she said she thought was cute, she is 9 years old.”
The mother then explained her daughter was upset after returning from her second day at school, because she was bullied for having a cup that was “fake and not cool.”
“This starts with us,” Motycka said. “What are we teaching our kids?”
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