A cuddly animal wearing a beanie should not incite violence. And yet, this is what occurred in some Starbucks shops earlier this month after the coffee chain released a limited line of teddy bear-shaped tumblers as a part of their holiday merchandise.
The “Bearista” cup, which was originally sold in South Korea and retails for $30, is reportedly sold out across Starbucks locations in the United States — but not before customers hassled baristas and tussled with each other in line to get their hands on one. Stories of frustrated Starbucks fans standing in long lines at the crack of dawn and accusing employees of hogging the cups made headlines and went viral on TikTok. Starbucks apologized to customers for the frenzy but stopped short of confirming whether they would restock the cups.
For now, these glass critters are being sold on eBay, sometimes for exorbitant prices. Meanwhile, shoppers who managed to procure the Bearista cup in store are posting their wins.
The Bearista cup is just the latest entry on a list of seemingly random but extremely hard-to-get merchandise that’s gone viral this year, from Labubus to Owala water bottles to Trader Joe’s micro tote bags. That certain low-cost novelty items can attract huge lines isn’t exactly new. (Cabbage Patch Kids and Beanie Babies are canonical examples.) What’s new is the extent to which these relatively cheap trinkets have become status symbols and an innovative way to distinguish oneself.
Status symbols are traditionally thought of as expensive luxury items that indicate one’s class. But in a time when affordability is driving the political conversation, young consumers are finding alternative ways to convey their social stature. It isn’t a flex anymore to splurge on a designer bag or an expensive car. Status can be earned by getting your hands on something rare, even if it only costs 30 bucks. Even wealthy people are embracing these less glitzy but in-the-know signifiers.
In the case of all these conspicuous or wearable commodities, the goal is to invest and partake in the online attention economy.
While some of the hottest items of the year have necessitated elaborate hunts or long wait times, this isn’t always intentional on the brand’s part. Many companies use artificial scarcity as a marketing tactic, partaking in seasonal or limited product drops to boost sales, while others may not anticipate the initial demand of new products and run out of supply, according to Tara Sinclair, head of the economics department at George Washington University. In any case, these shortages lend themselves to social media content that sparks intrigue and turns the purchasing of these products into full-blown experiences.
On TikTok and YouTube, the search to find a special-edition Stanley cup or a Dubai chocolate bar has become its own subgenre. Users post trips to their local grocers or big box stores where they scour the aisles, either successfully or unsuccessfully, for the latest trendy purchase. Others have filmed themselves going dumpster diving behind stores. In some cases, recorded confrontations between especially committed customers, and even theft of these items, have helped these products generate buzz. Much of the conversation around Stanley cups and Labubus, for example, was about the outsized emotional reactions people seem to have to them, adding a mysterious value to these products.
Given that these products are not financially out of reach for working and middle-class consumers, the thrill of attaining these items seems largely wrapped up in beating your competition, whether through time, dedication, or pure luck.
That said, these items still signal a level of financial privilege. (A $30 mug is more expensive than the paper cup that you usually get with your coffee at Starbucks.) And the amount of time and energy spent scavenging these items “is a way of signaling being part of a club,” says Sinclair.
“When we think about products of scarcity, there’s typically two ways that we pay for them, money or our time,” she says. “Spending time scouring a store is not so different from spending your money on it because you could, otherwise, potentially be working and earning money during that time.”
Affordability meets a desire to be cool
Even so, it’s notable that our idea of status symbols is expanding to include a variety of low-end and easily collectible things. For a generation riddled with economic anxiety and navigating a slimming job market, it feels appropriate that cost-friendly items are suddenly carrying a lot more esteem.
This fits into a larger trend of Gen Z spending on so-called “affordable luxuries,” that some have theorized as a recession indicator. To many, the current craze around these low-cost products seems like a re-treading of the “lipstick effect,” a term that dates back to the 2001 recession. At the time, Estée Lauder chair Leonard Lauder noted that the company had experienced a rise in lipstick sales, inspiring a theory that says consumers are less likely to spend on expensive, luxury goods in the midst of an economic crisis, instead opting for cheap indulgences. After all, luxury spending is slowing down and could continue this trajectory for a while.
But Silvia Bellezza, associate professor of business at Columbia University, isn’t totally convinced that Gen Z’s obsession with trinkets and tumblers is primarily a response to harsh economic times, given that people are always falling for these novelty items. These alternative status symbols could also be driven by an interest in acquiring taste or “cultural capital.”
Bellezza has found that “traditional markers of superiority,” like cars and designer clothes, become too mainstream and diluted when they are mass-produced. This leads to consumers, including affluent people, finding more clever and original ways to distinguish themselves.
“Mixing and matching high and low is a very clever way to stand out and show that you’re even superior to engaging in all the traditional high-status products, and you can dictate your own fashion,” says Bellezza.
This would probably explain why celebrities and billionaires alike are incorporating Lababus and canvas totes into their high fashion wear. Plus, she says consumers want to be seen with items that can only be perceived and understood by a certain subset of people, a behavior referred to as “horizontal signaling.” A Trader Joe’s tote, for example, is mostly understood as a trendy fashion item and not just a utility bag to a specific group of young, very online urbanites.
Given that social media is such an integral part of Gen Z’s shopping experiences, it’s only natural that owning status symbols is more about achieving social clout than signaling actual currency. Waiting in line, fighting crowds, and tracking down these affordable items may be extremely inconvenient, but it’s suitable for a cohort with an uncertain financial future. In the meantime, why not rack up views?