ASI’s Counselor® Magazine Selects Reusable Straws Its 2019 “Product of the Year”

Sustainability and environmental movements spur ESP searches of eco-friendly straws

 

TREVOSE, PA – November 20, 2019 – Counselor® magazine, the voice of the $24.7 billion promotional products industry, today named reusable straws its 2019 Product of the Year.

The award-winning Counselor, edited by C.J. Mittica, is published by the Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI). According to Counselor, year-over-year searches in ESP for the term “reusable straws” were up 402%; “stainless steel straws,” up 294%; and “straw,” up 271%. All three are in the top five biggest product search increases in 2019.

“The environmental movement, coupled with the influence of the millennial and Gen Z demographics’ embrace of sustainability and visceral aversion to single-use plastics, has generated a wave of plastic straw-shunning,” said Michele Bell (@ASI_MBell), head of ASI’s editorial department. “Thankfully, the promotional products industry is savvy enough to jump on fast-moving trends and provide the kind of products today’s consumers are demanding.”

There are currently 275 suppliers in ESP carrying reusable straws. ASI’s ESP is the industry’s number-one business platform, averaging over 2.7 million distributor searches per month. Of the Top 40 distributors, 36 chose ESP, the industry’s largest, most accurate promotional products sourcing and marketing tool.

Brands like Starbucks and American Airlines, as well as restaurants across America and in Europe, have started foregoing the ubiquitous red- and blue-striped plastic straws, encouraging consumers to find alternative methods that reduce plastic usage and lessen the impact on the environment.

“The retail/fashion industry is probably the biggest buyer of these products from us,” distributor Michael Scott Cohen, CEO of the NYC-based distributor Harper + Scott, told Counselor. “It’s not just about the product though; we’re helping construct the story behind why they’re giving away a reusable/sustainable product.”