Monday, August 6, 2007

We Got GOT!


...and I knew it all along.

Over the past couple days, Pepsi and Coca-Cola who manufacture Aquafina and Dasani Waters, respectively, admitted to using tap water from "public water sources" and not the mythical streams that flow down the purified creeks of Artesia. WTF??? You mean to tell me that the Water Knomes of Aqualand didn't have shit to do with this good Fiji Water? Nor do the unicorns that Michael Jackson refer to as "public transportation" graze the Springs of Poland?

I'm not surprised...are you?

It's crazy to me that when we were all growing up all we drank was tap water. Hell... as kids after a long day of playing basketball outside we would all gather around the spicket (country folks know what that is) to drink water from the outside water hose. It's been only in the past 10 years or so that people started turning their noses up at tap water like it's a safety hazard.

Speaking of which, have you ever had guests over and offered them drinks? It usually goes something like this:

"Would you like something to drink? I have Coke, lemonade, water... umm.. milk?"

"What kind of water?"

"Tap Water."

"Eww... no bottled water?"

"Just tap."

"*disgusted* Ok... I'll take Coke"

I always would get a little agitated and want to scream out "It's the same thing, fool!" It's amazing to me how easily we change our opinions of things with enough marketing and advertising.

With this startling new info that bottlers are NOT filling up empty bottles with purified H20 from sacred streams, but rather turning on a faucet not unlike the one in your kitchen , I challenge everyone to take a chance... take out a cup from your cabinet, put it under you faucet, turn it on cold, and take a swig. You just might find it a little familiar.

Want proof? Like ta' hear it here it go!

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NEW YORK (Reuters) -- PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political opposition to the bottled water industry. According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group, the world's No. 2 beverage company will include the words "Public Water Source" on Aquafina labels.


Pepsi's Aquafina bottled water and Coca-Cola's Dasani are made from purified tap water.

"If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do," said Michelle Naughton, a Pepsi-Cola North America spokeswoman.

Pepsi Chief Executive Indra Nooyi told Reuters earlier this week the company was considering such a move.

Pepsi's Aquafina and Coca-Cola Co's Dasani are both made from purified water sourced from public reservoirs, as opposed to Danone's Evian or Nestle's Poland Spring, so-called "spring waters," shipped from specific locations the companies say have notably clean water.

Coca-Cola Co. told Reuters it will start posting online information about the quality control testing it performs on Dasani by the end of summer or early fall.

"Concerns about the bottled-water industry, and increasing corporate control of water, are growing across the country," said Gigi Kellett, director of the "Think Outside the Bottle" campaign, which aims to encourage people to drink tap water.

San Francisco's mayor banned city employees from using city funds to buy bottled water when tap water is available. Ann Arbor, Michigan passed a resolution banning commercially bottled water at city events and Salt Lake City, Utah asked department heads to eliminate bottled water.

Critics charge the bottled water industry adds plastic to landfills, uses too much energy by producing and shipping bottles across the world and undermines confidence in the safety and cleanliness of public water supplies, all while much of the world's population is without access to clean water.

But industry observers said such opposition is unlikely to drain U.S. sales of bottled water, which reached 2.6 billion cases in 2006, according to Beverage Digest. The industry newsletter estimated that U.S. consumers spent about $15 billion on bottled water last year. "Consumers have an affection for bottled water. It's not an issue of taste or health, it's about convenience," the newsletter's publisher, John Sicher, said. "Try walking up (New York City's) Third Avenue on a hot day and getting a glass of tap water."

Dave Kolpak, a portfolio manager at Victory Capital Management, said the environmental objections will have little impact on the bottom line for either Pepsi or Coke, though he admitted it could slow the market's growth rate.

"Pepsi and Coke do not make a lot of profit" on bottled water, said Kolpak, adding that people may talk about the issue, but will likely continue buying some bottled water. Victory Capital owns about 3 million shares of PepsiCo among its $62 billion under management.

Ignorance: I want some of that Unicorn water like in the picture up top.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I always assumed that any water that didn't say spring water was tap water. "Purified water" just means filtered tap water.

*shrugs*

Like Brandon said, it didn't kill us in the 80s ... it ain't going to kill us now. God knows some developing countries WISH they had our water.

What I DIDN'T know until recently is that urine is considered safer than a lot of waters.

Anonymous said...

And by the way, since urine is sterile .... does that make what R. Kelly did LESS bad? I mean he could have poured unfiltered tap water on that chick! Now THAT woulda been COLD-BLOODED!!

Ticia said...

Great post.. .I agree with Gene, I have always thought the same thing...

I like filtered tap water......that is satisfying to me......

hottnikz said...

I guess I'm the exception to the rule. My mother always had spring water delivered to our house. She is a health nut, always has been. She even cooks with it. So when I did try Schuylkill Punch (Philly term for tap water)after years of drinking spring, it was horrible. It took me years to get used to the taste, and probably why I have to force myself to drink it. I drink tap water because now days you really don't know what you are getting, and I refuse to pay for tap. I already have a water bill!

hottnikz said...

Pepsi & Coke don't make a lot of profits?!! That is such bullshit! How come the vending machine at my job sells a bottle of Coke or Pepsi or Dasani water for $1.50.

Anonymous said...

That's messed up. They make you pay $1.50 or $2.00 for bottle water that is really tap water! What else are we eating/or drinking that we think is "purified." How about organic food? I bet it is not really organic. Humph!

dcsavvystar said...

ohhhhhhhhhh this just makes me sooo mad! all that wasted money! can we sue! good grief!

Anonymous said...

A lot of food that says organic is not really organic - especially at Wal Mart.

erin.davis said...

i grew up in the country, drinking well water out of the spicket. i remember going to visit my grandmother in the "city" and thinking that their tap water was SO nasty.

we started having bottled water at the house when my sisters and brother were really young. since they were adopted, we routinely had to get lots of things with the house checked, including our water; and it ended up having something in it that supposedly wasn't safe for children.

back then (oooh, i sound old) water was cheap- i remember getting a gallon of water for less than a dollar, maybe even just under $0.50 at harris teeter, the expensive grocery store. now, the price of water alone is enough to keep me using the tap...and the fact that i actually have a water bill to pay.

Andrew The Asshole said...

The reason why the two waters are the same is because they were created by the same person. A chemist created coke's formula of filtered tap water. Coke then took the formula as their own, knowing that an average person can fight them in court. The chemist wisely withdrue the lawsuit and created Pepsi's filtered tap water. It was the same person, thus they don't taste that different.

I thought this was common knowledge, they said they put the water through a filtering machine so that the water taste same around the world even though it is coming from the local water source.

Andrew The Asshole said...

Its like starbucks coffee... its status symbol that has been marketed perfectly... Fuckin Sheep!!!