In developed countries, there has been a surge in the use of bottled water over the past decade.
Sure, drinking water is a good idea...........but the bottled water marketing gurus have turned drinking water into an an art form with their "messages". But good ole tap water is kicking back!
In an unlikely area............New York City. They have a program to kick the bottle so to speak, and use conventional ready to go tap water. There are many, many dubious claims made by users and bottlers within the bottled water industry. They play on fear and paranoia - mostly, as there is little evidence that bottled water delivers anything but extra cost to users, and it is disease free.
Can this be a welcome change and be a campaign that could be developed in Australia too with various partners?
see: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/news/outreach.shtml
The New York campaign uses the following slogans:
NYC Water doesn't just taste great:
- It’s Healthy: NYC Water helps you maintain a healthy weight because water contains zero calories, zero sugar and zero fat. A typical 12-ounce can of soda contains about 150 calories and the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar. Sports drinks, which are marketed as healthy alternatives, have as many calories as sugary beverages and usually contain high levels of sodium.
- It’s Affordable: NYC Water is a great deal. At approximately one penny per gallon, it is about 1,000 times less expensive than bottled water.
- It’s Green: Plastic water bottles produced for the U.S. use 1.5 million barrels of oil a year—enough to power 250,000 homes or 100,000 cars all year. And it takes more than 3 liters of water to produce each bottled liter of water.
- It’s Convenient: NYC tap water is available right from your tap. DEP’s Water-On-the-Go fountains will make tap water easy to get in public places in each of the five boroughs all summer.
All are true..........absolutely!!
It could be a marketers dream.
[ top image x BBC; lower cartoon x Greenberg, Ventura Star]
