The recent craze over Stanley cups raised a few eyebrows. In some places, Target stores transformed into Hunger Games scenes as the goods flew off the shelves. But Americans competing to pay over $40 for an oversized, insulated travel cup should surprise no one. If there’s anything that unites all Americans, it is our love of cold beverages. We love our drinks cold. Ice cold.
“Ice cold” is something that Americans truly love. If you go to Europe, you find out that not all beverages are kept at the refreshing temperatures we appreciate. If you say you’re going to Europe, people here will warn you about the scarcity of ice there. Sometimes soda there is lukewarm! Europeans do appreciate cold beer, but have they designed beer cans to indicate they are only ready for consumption once they are ice cold and clearly illustrate the Rockies? No. Here you can build an entire ad campaign around your drink being colder than rivals’, something that seems unrelated to inherent quality and could theoretically be achieved by any beverage properly chilled. Americans love ice cold drinks so much that we often get sick in other countries where we know not to drink the water but forget about the hazards of ice cubes, because we instinctively crave and trust them.
Americans are known to just “love ice so much.” Travel the country and you will see something special. At every gas station, there is an ice chest. Some of them are beautiful in a classic Americana way. People have noticed. In shopping plazas across the west, you will also see ice for sale from vending machines. Some of those even have an iconic look. Our demand for ice is seemingly insatiable. Americans will buy their own home ice machines to get the “good ice.” If you know, you know. You want a classic night out in Texas? Go to an “ice house.” The world may not understand our obsession with ice, but it has long recognized our quality. In the 1800s, natural American ice was harvested and exported around the world. You’re welcome, world.
As much as we love ice, it’s not about the ice. It’s about everything you can find in the history of Coca-Cola slogans. Consider a few of these: 1904: Delicious and refreshing. 1924: Refresh yourself. 1929: The pause that refreshes. 1932: Ice cold sunshine. 1958: The cold, crisp taste of Coke. 1959: Be really refreshed. No American beverage is more iconic than Coca-Cola and its slogans and imagery tell the story of thirsty people, needing cold refreshment. You “can’t beat the real thing.” And to us, the real thing is cold. Even if it’s Pepsi.
Why do we need such cold, refreshing drinks? It’s not clear. Our country has a variety of climates. It’s not hot all the time everywhere. We also have more air conditioning than almost anyone else. Some Europeans consider us “addicted” to air conditioning. We do more to cool our moderate temperatures than people in tropical climates do to cool their temperatures. The chilled drinks are not necessary to cool our bodies.
Americans always want to be refreshed and refueled. We carry water everywhere. We are always telling each other to drink more water. We are probably drinking enough. Once upon a time, an adult or child could leave the house without a water bottle. Those times are past. We have become so dependent on our hydration devices that people have started calling out the “emotional support water bottle.” We cannot walk a mile, sit through an hour-long class, travel thirty minutes in the car, or get selected for jury duty without a beverage on hand. Water is chic, but we also buy and drink coffee everywhere. We are the leading market for energy drinks.
Coca-Cola was right, we are always seeking “the pause that refreshes.” Perhaps that relates to our self-image. We see ourselves as pioneers, drinking from clear streams as we exercise our expansionist ambitions. We are hard-working construction workers, needing a Diet Coke break. We are athletic stars, looking for the crisp taste of Sprite between dunks. We are people on the beach on a dream vacation, sipping a Corona. We are marathon runners savoring a Michelob Ultra post-run, with our perfect bodyfat ratio and sense of moderation. When we are low, we are wasting away in Margaritaville or sitting with our friends in low places, where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases. When we are up, we have come across some Pappy Van Winkle. We are all about beverages. Why are these the best images of ourselves? Who knows, but Ponce de Leon did come to these shores seeking the Fountain of Youth. We showed up thirsty.
Our American quest for all beverages at perfect temperature is best displayed in the apotheosis of YETI. The brand has taken off unbelievably since its launch in 2006. YETI is famously engineered to keep things hot or cold, for a long time. We had coolers and cups before, but were they good enough? No. And YETI has launched something of a space race. New technology is afoot in cooling. RTIC, a rival, advertises as “overbuilt, not overpriced.” Why do we need an overbuilt cooler? Who knows. And I’ve now seen a new cooler, even colder, which requires no ice. The price tag is commensurate with the promise. We will never reach cold enough for long enough.
A YETI product is not only perfectly engineered, it is a status symbol. “Everyone loves the guy with the cold drinks,” says Amanda Mull in an Atlantic article calling the coolers “luxury goods for bros.” But they’re for far more people than just the bros, just take a look around. YETI coolers and cups have been popular enough to launch bags and clothing. People want to be associated with a cooler brand. YETI is the good life. Ask the country song “Buy me a boat” by Chris Janson. Money can’t buy happiness, but “it can buy me a boat, it could buy me a truck to pull it, it could buy me a YETI 110 iced down with some silver bullets.” Having drinks at the right temperature is getting life right. Money could also get your teenage girl the Stanley cup she needs to stand proudly among her peers at school.
What YETI and Stanley have grasped is that we want our ice and we want it on the go. A walk-in freezer keeps things cold, but you can’t walk with it. Portability is required. We Americans are always on the move and we want to see ourselves that way. No one wants to wear a hat with a refrigerator logo on it. We are out in the world, going places. Big places. We love cupholders more than most countries. We need them for our big drinks, which we’ve earned by being movers and shakers (not just being big commuters). It’s related to the same self-image that whispers to us that pick-up trucks fit our lifestyle. It echoes to us from Walt Whitman:
All the past we leave behind,
We debouch upon a newer mightier world, varied world,
Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and the march,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
What Ponce de Leon and Coca-Cola and YETI and Stanley all know is that we are after “liquid sunshine.” For many Americans, nothing says relaxation and contentment like the right beverage, at the right temperature. Nothing says American ingenuity and engineering like a cooler that will keep ice frozen for days on end. Nothing says romance like “Having a Coke With You.” This is the ultimate American fantasy: always having a drink on hand, always at the ideal temperature. Some like it hot, but Americans like it cold.