What Do You Enjoy That Others Think Is Cringe, Played Out or Just Uncool?

It’s fall. A season that, for some, evokes excessive enthusiasm, to the point that meme accounts have been created to mock a certain type of person who is obsessed with all things autumn — sweaters, the changing leaves and, yes, pumpkin spice lattes.

Are you someone who loves fall? Do you look forward to the return of Starbucks’s pumpkin spice latte every autumn? If yes, do you care that some people think the drink is “cringe”? Or do you love that flavor in spite of its reputation?

And, if not, what is the “pumpkin spice latte” in your life — the coolness of which other people might question, but you love it anyway?

In “The Pumpkin Spice Latte Will Outlive Us All,” Ella Quittner writes about the longevity of the seasonal drink that has found legions of fans, spawned imitators and inspired much commentary about what it says, or doesn’t say, about the people who love it:

Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte, which turned 20 last month, has survived blistering political environments, harrowing global recessions and endless cycles of beverage and diet trends by refusing to be cool. Now, it’s a touchstone of the American palate.

The P.S.L. has evaded irrelevance by appealing to our need for a reliable marker of passing time. It offers a Pavlovian feedback loop: Give up a few dollars, receive instant nostalgia for chilly nights spent curled up watching “Practical Magic,” and a sweet reminder of the approaching holidays.

Before Starbucks unveiled its latte, “pumpkin” simply did not exist as a consumer category at the scale familiar to Americans today, said Erin LaBranche, a senior strategist at the global marketing company R/GA. This past year, pumpkin-flavored products accounted for $787 million in national sales, including pumpkin spice hummus and pumpkin spice deodorant, according to the consumer intelligence company NIQ. Peppermint-flavored products, by comparison, brought in just $494 million in that same period.

While Americans have bought fewer pumpkin products over the last two years, the data company Bloomberg Second Measure reports that, this year, Starbucks’ sales increased by more than 7 percent during the week of the P.S.L.’s eyebrow-raising Aug. 24 debut.

The article continues:

But the pumpkin spice latte was never exactly hip. In fact, its unwillingness to align with the whims of a mercurial pop culture has become integral to its success. Acolytes across the country and world reach for the pie-flavored drink because it forgoes the effort so many consumer products put in to signal sophistication. It’s a seasonal trend, but it is not trendy.

One P.S.L.-drinker commented:

“A lot of people will say it’s a ‘basic’ white girl thing,” said Jennifer Rominger, a public-school teacher in West Texas, of the latte. By the time she procured her first P.S.L. of the season on release day, Ms. Rominger, 38, had already ordered a Halloweentown sweater and made plans to visit her local pumpkin patch for a photo shoot.

“People are throwing around ‘basic’ like it’s derogatory,” she said. “I don’t think it’s the term that appeals to me, but I do fit that stereotype. I go into this persona in the fall because it’s a mood.”

Students, read the entire article and then tell us:

• What are your thoughts on the pumpkin spice latte and its devoted fan base? Why do you think it has endured for 20 years?

• What do you think about the idea that the way for something to stand the test of time is to never be cool in the first place? Can you think of anything besides the P.S.L. that has endured as a product, show, genre of music, art form or anything else without ever being seen as trendy or hip?

• Do you ever find yourself disliking something because too many people like it? What is your experience with this situation? Are you ever on the other side of the equation, not giving up on something after other people claim to have moved on to newer, cooler things? How do you describe being on that side?

• OK, let’s have it: your list of things you enjoy that other people say are over, cringe, played out or otherwise uncool. How do you defend your favorites to them? What do you wish people knew? And do you ever secretly think that it’s cool to like uncool things?

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Student Opinion questions here. Teachers, check out this guide to learn how you can incorporate these prompts into your classroom.