Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Miscellaneous | November 19, 2025
I have some bad news for the Stanley Cup girlies. Yes, you, who spent thousands of dollars and got into brawls at Target over a reusable metal receptacle because everyone on TikTok had one. They’re out. Sorry, the trends have moved on, and you are officially uncool now. The hot cup of the moment? It’s a glass teddy bear.
For the festive season, Starbucks has released an array of tumblers and mugs for cozy Christmas shenanigans. But the most sought-after one of the bunch is the Bearista Cold Cup, a glass cup shaped like a teddy bear with a woolly green cap as its lid. It’s adorable, I admit it, the response to all of us who have seen those squeezy honey bear bottles and wondered what it would be like to drink from them. The Bearista retails for $30, but good luck getting your hands on one. Like the Stanleys before it, this bear is the flash-in-the-pan beverage holder of the moment, and people will do anything to get their hands on one.
Consumers have started queuing for hours at Starbucks locations to get this cup. Disappointed customers took to social media to complain about the item’s scarcity. Some were mad that employees had gotten dibs on the items before them. One person shared their experience with Business Insider of camping outside his local Starbucks from 1 am to get the cup. Various videos on TikTok have shown what appear to be fights in stores from angry customers. And, of course, the resellers have gotten involved. You can already bid for a bear cup on sites like eBay for several times the original cost. Temu has dupes ready to go. A $30 cup with the aesthetic of a child’s playroom is already a symbol of exclusivity. It’s a Labubu with a straw.
If this all reminds you of about 500 different fads over the past decade or so, that’s the point. All of this happened with the Stanley Cups, wherein poor retail workers were left to be abused and harassed by desperate weirdos who thought that a tumbler was a life-or-death situation. We’ve been through this so many times this year alone, whether it was the hours-long queues for Labubus, the clearing of shelves for Dubai chocolate, or Trader Joe’s selling totes that were fetishized by influencers like an ancient god. From Beanie Babies to Teletubbies to Cabbage Patch Kids, there is always a new must-have item that inspires fervour we almost immediately regret.
An item like this has instant appeal, and it doesn’t elude even this anti-capitalist grouch. We like adorable things, and we millennials love a cute beverage. Buying something frivolous just to feel something is hardly new. Trends have always existed, but they do seem to come and go far speedier in the brain-rot age than they once did. The life cycle is quicker but the all-encompassing nature of the fad is grander than ever. Remember how the Stanley Cup craze led to a slew of needless accessories and personalizing products, all shilled by influencers via Amazon affiliate links?
Starbucks issued an ‘apology’ for the chaos caused by their teddies, one that left many of their baristas with a lot of angry customers and inexcusable harassment directed towards them. “The excitement for our merchandise exceeded even our biggest expectations and despite shipping more Bearista cups to coffeehouses than almost any other merchandise item this holiday season, the Bearista cup and some other items sold out fast,” Starbucks said. They also let fans know that they can expect “more exciting merchandise coming this holiday season”, which probably means more cups, festive flavours, and brand collaborations. They have already announced a team-up with Target, because two heavily boycotted companies are better than one.
It’s a revealing apology, right? They knew that this silly cup would be overhyped to the nines, and that they could create more drama by ensuring that only a tiny number of them would ever be available to the people who proudly call themselves fans of a coffee shop conglomerate. They made a cup exclusive, the new status symbol of coolness, in the way that a shocking number of drink receptacles have become over the past three or four years. The point wasn’t to make something that could be a cute festive gift for a loved one, but to continue bolstering their brand image as one of indomitable cultural might. It took a lot of hard graft for unions and activists to make a dent in Starbucks’ bottom line in protest of its anti-worker policies. A bear cup was enough for many people to cross a picket line.
That these cups will be on thrift shop shelves by Easter makes the cycle all the more aggravating. It’s another reminder of overconsumption’s thrall, yes, but also of the ways in which the brainrot era of our modern economy has found a way to fetishize everyday items as luxurious must-haves. The bar is in hell, and capitalism still finds ways to limbo under it.
