A woman in pursuit of 2024’s first real hot-ticket consumer item—the Stanley cup—was happy to secure one at Target. But it came with a price beyond what she paid at the register.
Creator Meagan Henagan Howard (@meaganfetchhappen) said she fell on her way to get one and learned that some of the employees laughed over her misfortune.
“I got this Stanley Cup, but I can never go back to my Target again. And this is why,” Howard declared in a TikTok that’s been viewed over 1.2 million times since Jan 1.
She compared the crowd of people trying to get their hands on the cups to a “stampede.”
“I’m running through the checkout line to try to get to the Stanleys,” she said, “and my Ugg like catches on the floor. I fly. I splatted like a bug on the floor—like completely face-planted.”
She said she still managed to secure a cup but that she was curious to see what her fall looked like “from everyone else’s perspective.” So she said she went back the next day to see if there was security footage of the misadventure.
Howard said several employees went in to view the footage and then came out laughing. “‘Oh, we can’t show you,’” Howard recalled one worker telling her, “‘but you really ate it. Like, you really, really fell. Sorry.’”
It got worse, as Howard told it. She claimed she went about her shopping, and then at the register, “another lady is holding on two Stanleys, like a blue and a white one that they had already, and she’s like, ‘Stanleys for sale, if you want one. Only two left!’” Howard then added, ruefully, “Mocking me.”
“And now I’m known as the girl who fell,” she concluded.
@meaganfetchhappen I can never show my face there again lol #stanleytarget #stanleytargetexclusive #newstanleycup #targetstanleycup #targetstanley #stanleydrop #targetstanleycollab #valentinestanley #valentinesdaytarget #fallingdown ♬ original sound – Meagan Henagan How
The Daily Dot’s coverage of the Stanley cup phenomenon includes a TikToker who caught an employee trying to stash one before they ran out, a man who was tackled in his attempt to secure one, and people who fought in line while waiting to buy them. It also includes a remarkable story of one that survived a car fire—with ice still inside.
In explaining the craze, NPR called it “the status symbol that hydrates,” adding, “The Stanley brand boasts about the superior quality of its popular tumblers, which are double-wall stainless steel and able to keep liquids hot or cold for extended periods of time. The bottle is heavy — Quenchers can carry as much as 64 ounces of liquid — but it has the size to keep a person fully hydrated and also still be able to fit in a car’s cup holder due to the tumbler’s tapered bottom.”
In a follow-up video, Howard shared that she was also lucky enough to get the Starbucks x Stanley pink cup.
In that video, she noted she arrived at the store at 7:30am. “My Target passed out tickets. If you were given a ticket, you got a cup. I barely made it. The last two tickets were given right behind me,” she said.
The video then showed the considerable line at guest services that she waited in to trade her ticket for a cup.
Her caption accompanying the video quipped, “I didn’t even fall this time.”
@meaganfetchhappen I didnt even fall this time #starbucks #winterpink #stanleystarbuckscollab #stanleystarbuckscup #stanleyquencher #stanleyxstarbucks #StanleyCup #starbucks #stanley #target #Vlog ♬ Just A Girl – No Doubt
The Daily Dot has reached out to Meagan and to Target via email.
