Pure Life vending machine asks passersby to trade their phone for a 10-minute break

Using a pop-up vending machine location, tea brand Pure Leaf offered consumers the chance to enjoy a 10-minute break with an iced tea. The trade-off? Give up your phone. 

The brand shared some consumers’ experience with the machine and brand on its Instagram channel, noting “76% of people feel better after taking even a short break… but no one ever takes them! Just ten minutes is all it takes to feel revitalized. Don’t believe us? See how busy New Yorkers felt after a refreshing tea break with Pure Leaf."

In each of the clips shared by the brand, passersby are intrigued enough by the promise of a “tea break” to place their phone inside the machine. Varying degrees of panic set in when they realize their phones have been locked away from them.

“Hello?” shouts a man in one of the clips. “I’m not about to go viral in the middle of the city because I wanted some iced tea!” 

“Can I please have my phone back?” he continues, plaintively. “I paid a lot of money for it.”

In each video, as the tea break timer counts down, the consumer begins to relax as they enjoy their complimentary iced tea — and the enforced break. After 10 minutes, the vending machine unlocks the cavity holding the phone automatically.

The vending machine is a extension of a tea break campaign the brand kicked off with Lindsey Lohan in 2024.