Videos on TikTok show cabinets filled with Stanley Quencher tumblers in different colors – from bright neon to soft pastels. They’re commonly featured in videos about staying hydrated and healthy.
However, a lawsuit filed against Stanley’s parent company (Pacific Market International) now alleges that they have a dark side that isn’t healthy at all.
“According to the complaint, [plaintiff Mariana] Franzetti bought a Stanley tumbler at Target last year,” said a report from KSNV in Nevada, which shared a copy of the suit. “She confirmed the presence of lead in the tumbler via the use of a home test.”
Lead exposure is particularly dangerous for children, per the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can cause damage to the brain and nervous system. The Mayo Clinic also noted that lead poisoning can impact adults, resulting in symptoms such as headache, abdominal pain and more.
Seattle-based Stanley 1913 has been making products for more than a century, but its cups only recently became a social media sensation. For decades, they were marketed as camping or work gear and the company focused on selling them to men.
Retail Dive reported on how that started to change in 2017, when women from The Buy Guide blog reached out to the company and told them to start marketing the $35 to $55 Stanley Quencher to a different demographic. Since then, its popularity has skyrocketed, and according to CNBC, annual sales from last year were expected to top $750 million, compared to $70 million before the cups hit big.
In her lawsuit regarding the cups, Franzetti is alleging breach of contract due to the presence of lead.
“When I discovered that lead was possibly in the Stanley cup, I was really upset,” she told ABC News. “I tried to treat my body as well as possible. I wouldn’t have bought any sort of product that had lead in it, to my knowledge. And I just thought, why is a company like this being so deceptive?”
Reports of lead content in the popular Stanley thermos products have been circulating since at least January. Stanley released a statement on its website that said: “Our manufacturing process currently employs the use of an industry standard pellet to seal the vacuum insulation at the base of our products; the sealing material includes some lead.”
It also said that the area is sealed with a stainless steel layer that protects consumers from the lead, that it meets U.S. regulatory requirements and that it tests its products.
“Rest assured that no lead is present on the surface of any Stanley product that comes into contact with the consumer nor the contents of the product,” said the statement. “In the rare occurrence the base cap of a product comes off due to ordinary use and exposes this seal, it is eligible for our Lifetime Warranty.”