I have been saying for a long time that I thought bottled water was being over-rated! Now the companies themselves have given me the proof that I need to bolster my argument that the bottled water story was mainly a bunch of marketing hype!Pepsi says Aquafina is tap water.
Labels on bottles will be changed to clarify that the water originates from public sources.
By CNN's Katy Byron
July 27 2007: 5:26 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Pepsi-Cola announced Friday that the labels of its Aquafina brand bottled water will be changed to make it clear the product is tap water.
The new bottles will say, "The Aquafina in this bottle is purified water that originates from a public water source," or something similar, Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman Nicole Bradley told CNN.
Pepsi will change current labels on water bottles to say the water comes from a public water source. The bottles are currently labeled: "Bottled at the source P.W.S."
Americans spent about $2.17 billion on Aquafina last year, according to Beverage Digest, an independent company that tracks the global beverage industry. The U.S. bottled water business in 2006 totaled roughly $15 billion, it said.
No timetable was available for when customers will see the label change on store shelves, another Pepsi spokeswoman, Michelle Naughton, told CNN.
Bottled water: No longer cool?
Pepsi released a statement saying: "If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do."
Coca-Cola does not have plans to change the labeling on its Dasani brand bottled water, a company spokesman told CNN, despite the fact the water also comes from a public water supply.
Dasani's U.S. sales totaled approximately $1.89 billion in 2006, according to Beverage Digest calculations.
Nestle also has announced it will be changing the bottles of its All Nestle Pure Life Purified Drinking Water to "identify the source of the water, whether it's from a municipal supply or ground-water well source."
That change "will be showing up on labels this year and is expected to be on all of these labels by the end of the first quarter of 2008," the company said in a written statement.
Nestle has not decided what the new labels will say exactly, a spokesman told CNN. "
You can read the whole story here. I knew that I wasn't just making this stuff up! Now put down that bottle of water...and let's get some fresh coffee, OK?
11 comments:
Interesting... :-) Every now and then I get really surprised with the news coming from USA. This is certainly one of them. I mean, here, in the bloody Balkans (or in the middle of nowhere from EU point of view), if the water is bottled, and in supermarket, then it comes from natural water source, and exact origin is clearly marked on the label, together with the chemical analysis of some institute, that does the quality checks. Nobody sane would even try to bottle tap water, purified or not, and sell it. :-) Except those selling fake (illegally copied)products. Very very strange practice indeed... :-)
Hey sinip...unfortunatly we in the States have become so caught up in the image game and in consumerism that we fall prey to nearly any marketing scheme to come along. We, in many cases, have abandoned our own common sense for the sake of looking like one of the crowd. People think that they must have a cell phone to their ear and a bottle of water in their hand to go any where!
Sorry...starting to get into a ranting mode again! I'm only glad that I am old enough to not worry about fitting in. I appreciate you dropping by and again, thanks for the info yesterday.
See ya later
Jim
Cell phone is something I would certainly recommend to have with you, when you are going outdoor, I mean even to the supermarket. Just in case. You never know when you can step into another war here... :-) Other than that, yes, I'm starting to see that "consumerism" and "I must have xyz brand of something" here as well. One big difference is that 95% of the people here simply can't afford it, and that is "fortunate" in a way. Another difference is that we simply don't trust the government or authorities, when it comes to... pretty much everything... :-) And it helps in keeping common sense and makes you think about every step you make. And I should stop now before I fall into rant mode. :-)
hey sinip...someday we will have to have a good old rant session! I the old days here in Texas, they would be held on someone's front porch while the men sat around and solved all the problems of the world by talking things over and sharing a beverage of some sort. Of course, they would throw in a good selection of tall tales, rumors and even some new found jokes. Too bad that in today's world they would probably all be arrested for gathering without a permit.
Such is progress...!
Guys, here is another rant about ALL bottled water.
When I was working in a Call Center for Comcast I got into a conversation with a lady about bottled water. Here mom happens to have the job of testing bottled water for bacteria, especially. Guess what? Everything she test contained inordinate amounts of bacteria as compared to tap water.
js
these last few days I can't seem to use proper English.
Hey John...thanks for stopping by and for the information. Somehow it doesn't surprise me!I just can't believe that so many people buy into this whole thing about bottled water being so healthy.
It's the ego phenomena. Everyone else is drinking it, and everyone knows the virtue of getting a lot of water into the body throughout the day
js, this bacteria presence is quite "normal", since bottled water was not chlorinated it is easy to catch some bacteria if the bottling process was not clean enough.
Hi Jim ... I love coming here. Your topics are great.
This post just shows another thing that really makes my mind boggle about us humans. Aussies are right up Americas alley with the image and consumerism hype, if its not bling you just dont fit. I have never been a bottled water fan ...... its got no coffee in it.
missi...thanks for coming by. Well, I try to keep things interesting and I'm glad that you find it enjoyable. That's my purpose...to make things enjoyable for people.
You're right about the bottled water and the coffee! Shame, isn't it?
Jim
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