By Renner Clements, Contributing Writer
Nothing heralds the upcoming chilly months of fall like the arrival of everyone’s favorite flavor of coffee-inspired drinks. Starbucks released its fall menu selections to stores nationwide on Sep. 6, 2016, including the Salted Caramel Mocha Frappuccino, Chile Mocha and the classic Pumpkin Spice Latte.
The popularity of these fall selections is staggering.
“One in three cars,” said supervising manager, and Asbury class of ’15 alumnus, Kale Bandy, referring to how often people buy a Pumpkin Spice Latte at his Starbucks branch on Nicholasville Road. Bandy also described how his branch clears through two and a half gallons of the famed pumpkin spices per day.
“[Pumpkin spice] outsells everything else, by far,” he said.
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“The dedication of time and effort provides a richer learning experience and grows one’s focus as well.”
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Since its debut in 2003, the PSL has been released earlier each year to accommodate popular demand; Starbucks released their fall selections two days earlier this year than last year, keeping the famed pumpkin items on the menu from the poolside of late summer to the fireside of late winter.
Along with lengthening the availability of the PSL, Starbucks is releasing PSL in the form of K-Cup coffee pods, bottled ice espresso and Via Instant Latte Mix. This trend to create instant availability of good (i.e. profitable) products for a longer period of time might be an economic symptom of the weak cultural state of America today.
The Internet age has constructed another high-speed avenue towards leisure: the accessibility of information. No longer does the American need to have a basic understanding of the Dewey Decimal System to find out more information on the War of 1812. Newspapers are becoming increasingly irrelevant in a society where Internet access can give the individual access to all of the world’s information, both current and historical. But is this instant connection always a good thing?
According to a study conducted by Microsoft in 2015, the average person’s attention span has dropped to merely eight seconds of dedicated focus, perhaps caused by the mobile technology upswing in the past twenty years. This lack of patience can be detrimental to the character of an entire generation.
While the PSL may just be another commercial gimmick, the dangers presented in a culture of instant gratification are quite real.
“Instant gratification is a bad thing because if you don’t work for something, you won’t appreciate it as much,” said junior Rachal McConkey. “If it takes less time or effort to get pumpkin spice, then it won’t be as satisfying.”
The issue with PSL, then, is not PSL—it is the maturity of those spending their money. Starbucks will continue to capitalize on our nation’s desire for more of their product, be it pumpkin-flavored or not; the challenge then becomes whether or not to continue to follow our every craving.
“The attitude of instant gratification isn’t in our society, it is our society,” sophomore Teagan McKenzie said. “One of the definitions of maturity is the ability to delay gratification in order to have a greater reward later on.”
Instead of doing a quick Google search for information, try reading a book. The dedication of time and effort provides a richer learning experience and grows one’s focus as well. Instead of going to your favorite restaurant every week, try only splurging on special occasions; you might find yourself enjoying the restaurant more because of the intentionality of the visits than the amount of times visited.
In order for us to become our best selves, we must be able to say no to the ever-enticing allure of the sweet, rich Pumpkin Spice Latte.
But every once in a while is probably okay, too.