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Aquafina and Dasani: Consumers are morons
- Misleading marketing practices
by fravia+,
September 2007 ~
(first published at http://www.searchlores.org in
September 2007)
...for most european consumers, the idea of some bottled
tap water sold as a "real" spring mineral water would definitely be on the top list of scams.
Well, rejoice:
it has been common
practice in the States during the last ten years,
and the slavemasters are now trying the same scam in the European Union...
Let's repeat the obvious
Aquafina is
just bottled tap water (by Pepsi) which is sold in almost all supermarkets and
served by many restaurants in the States.
Dasani is just bottled tap water (by Coca Cola) which is sold in almost all supermarkets and
served by many restaurants in the States.
You want more examples? There is also an european (Nestle) scam going on in the States:
"Nestle Pure Life"
(now this has been somehow mixed with the
even more deceiving name "Poland Spring". This is indeed
a spring water resort in Maine, near Fryeburg)
Selling tap water
is like shooting at the red cross: you open a bottling factory and can automagically sell some
0.03 cents half litre water for one euro. "Go forth and screw the zombies"
It is worth mentioning that in the States such scam "tap mineral waters" have indeed
an "historical" raison d'être:
when, in the nineties, Perrier and Evian (a name which inverted means "Naïve", btw)
invaded the States with their (real and expensive)
"spring" mineral waters, the two main US-conglomerates, Coke and Pepsi, had to
react and -since the best defence is always an attack- managed to pull through such
most incredible scam: let's convince our own consumers to pay us
an extra price
for their own tap water.
The Bromate concoction
Note that this is not just an US-matter: the Dasani scam of "bottled tap water"
was actually already launched (and sold) some years ago in Europe (at least in the United Kingdom,
which -to a certain extent- pretends to be part of Europe :-), but has been -thanks Godzilla-
subsequently
recalled, due to its high percentage of carcinogen
Bromate.
In fact, in London, Coke was tapping its Dasani crap from
unpurified Thames water (by itself free of Bromate) but added for "taste profile"
a batch of calcium chloride, which contains bromide.
Then alas, following a common practice in the States, they pumped ozone through it,
thus oxidising the innoquous bromide into bromate - which is
a carcinogenical and dangerous substance.
Hence it is easy to see how such "bottled tap waters" are not only obvious scams,
but can also
represent quite dangerous crap concoctions.
Personally, I fail to see the logic of killing the very zombies that fall for your
bogus advertisement... but I guess
that some commercial gain must exist somewhere even in this case.
Anyway the advertisement terminology
is in itself
quite sarcastic, come to think of it:
"Aquafina: So Pure, We Promise Nothing". Hehe. Well said.
It is worth noting that
Coca-Cola sells annually more than 300 million cases of Dasani around the world. This proves,
in spades,
that "Consumers are morons" and, incidentally, that advertisement is much too powerful in a society where kids
are -on purpose- not tought any more the basic exegesis and rhetoric skills,
in order to enable them to defend themselves against the slavemasters.
Less healty, more expensive
To conclude,
using simpler words, Dasani and all "tap" mineral waters are
less healthy than regular tap water, yet at more than thirty times the price.
It should be also noted that Coke tried to launch Dasani in France and other european countries
as well. But with
a quite remarkable difference: Coca Cola pointed out in their advertisements
that "Unlike the UK or the States,
the variety of Dasani to be sold in France is a genuine mineral water". Imho this sounds
rather insulting vis-à-vis the english and american consumers :-)
Note that, apart the Bromate scam, in most cities, regular tap water is anyway "better" than mineral water
(both tapped AND spring water) from
any and all hygienical points of view: in fact after a coupla weeks
in a plastic bottle, any kind of mineral
water will taste pretty stale. Not to mention the many other
ecological considerations: the beverage industry adds
a bazillion of tons of plastic to all landfills and uses much
too much energy by producing and shipping the crap bottles.
Yet consumers, all over the world,
have been drilled to prefer to drink such bottles of "mineral water"
(paying an extra price and being compelled to carry home
the weight)
after being bombarded by very expensive and orchestrated advertisement campaigns.
For more details see +ORC's old (1997: yet still valid) "Mineral
Water" reality cracking essay.
Pepsi launched its Aquafina "bottled tap water" brand in 1997 and Coke quickly responded
with its own "bottled tap water", called Dasani.
It worked, thanks to the incredible zombification level of most american consumers:
believe it or not, these "bottled tap water" products
are now the #1 and #2 bestsellers in the States... incredible but, alas, true.
Many restaurants in the States serve now either Aquafina or Dasani only.
And try asking the waiter for some real
tap water... he
will probably be quite rude to you.
A legitimate question
Is it just bottled tap water or is there some 'added value' to be found, as they claim?
Well, in fact, here's a legitimate answer to such a legitimate question: bottled
tap water is
just a complete, absolute, utterly, gigantic, galactic scam: for instance,
what the various firms describe as "highly sophisticated purification process",
(Dasani: "based on Nasa spacecraft technology"), is
just a simple "reverse osmosis" filter, the same approach
used in many popular (and cheap) domestic water purification units.
Note also the visual deceiving approach: the 'Aquafina' logo is a
line of mountains against the sunset: Il danno e la beffa.
Coke, on the other hand,
had already invented a "Dasani plus" collection of "flavoured tap water": "Kiwi Strawberry" Flavor,
"Pomegranate Blackberry" Flavor and "Orange Tangerine" Flavor.
Pepsi introduced Aquafina "FlavorSplash" in
"Raspberry", "Citrus Blend" and "Wild Berry" flavors, while
Aquafina "Sparkling (tap) water" has been produced in "Original", "Lemon-Lime" and "Berry" varieties.
A nice exercise for the reader
As a last intersting exercise, readers should try to
apply some simple exegesis semantic to the following newspaper's snippet:
"Aquafina is the single biggest bottled tap water brand, and its bottles are at the moment
labeled "P.W.S."
Pepsi has been compelled to use new labels, that will now spell out "P.W.S." into
"public water source"
- If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources,
then it's a reasonable thing to do - PepsiCo spokeswoman Michelle Naughton said (in July 2007, better late than
never).
Accountability groups are pressing for similar "concessions"
from The Coca-Cola Co., which owns the Dasani (Bromate tainted) water brand.
Dasani's Web site says that Dasani comes, all over the world, from "local water supplies"
and is then filtered.
- We don't believe that consumers are confused about the source
of Dasani water - Coca-Cola spokeswoman Diana Garza Ciarlante said without blushing.
- The label clearly states that Dasani is -ahem- 'purified water', so nobody should complain".
Sales of bottled tap water has been a growing source of revenue for companies such as PepsiCo Inc.,
based in Purchase, N.Y., and Atlanta-based Coca-Cola"
Another interesting exegesis exercise can be applied to the following
tap water advertisement:
"Take the 'Dasani 7-day Refresh cycle. Drink Dasani everyday for one week and see how good you can feel. One thing's
for sure, you'll feel great about yourself. And with Dasani's refreshingly great taste, everyday
will be a breeze. Renew yourself with the Dasani 7-day Refresh cycle".
Try replacing "Dasani" with "Tap water" and you'll automatically obtain a nice reversing exercise.
Who owns what
PepsiCo brands
Pepsi
Tropicana
Aquafina <-- tap water
Liptons Iced Tea
Frappuccino
Mountain Dew
Mirinda
Lay's potato crisps
Doritos
Quaker Oats
Gatorade
Quavers
Wotsits
Snack-a-Jacks
Sugar Puffs
Aunt Jemima's
Coca-Cola brands
Coca-Cola Diet Coke
Powerade
Oasis
Dasani <-- tap water
Fanta
Lilt
Sprite
Calypso
Five Alive
Just Juice
Kia Ora
Minute Maid
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