As any Pacific Northwest teen from the ‘90s and early 2000s who carted a Nalgene around campus can tell you: WATER BOTTLE CULTURE IS NOT NEW. As pretty much any Grandpa or Boomer Dad can tell you: NEITHER IS STANLEY. But the demand for Stanley Tumblers (and, just as important, the inflated, often misogynistic conversation around it?) That’s (sorta) new. Like everything we talk about on this show: it’s complicated.
For today’s episode, we invited Amanda Mull back to the show to unpack the so-called Stanley Tumbler “obsession,” the relatively novel fascination with hydration, and why every kid has to have a water bottle at school. You might not think there’s that much to talk about when it comes to water bottles, but this one’s a whole lot of fun and as always, Amanda is a font of consumer behavior knowledge. (And make sure to check out Amanda’s first appearance on the pod, exploring why do clothes suck now??)
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