Is bottled water the 21st Century pet rock?

    Remember the Pet Rock crazy back in the 1970's?  This marketing scheme was developed by a marketer by the name of Dahl who became a millionaire by marketing these pet rocks as the perfect gift for Christmas 1975.  As crazy as it sounds it showed how far a clever marketing campaign could be developed for something that no one needed.  I was reminded of the pet rocks recently when I walked down the beverage aisle of my local Giant.   The marketing gimmicks to get people to buy something we get for free from our taps is eye opening.  Here are some of the marketing approaches I saw.

   The bottled water craze was originally marketed for purity and many names suggested that the water came from mountain springs.  However it is estimated that about 25% of the bottled water sold comes from public water systems. This includes two popular brands of Aquafina and Desani from Coke and Pepsi.

   I am not sure how "vapor distilling and adding electrolytes" makes this water smarter than other water. If you think that buying this water will make you smarter you have already made a statement on your intelligence.

    Are there waters that lead to an "impure life?"

Who needs to eat fruits and vegetables when you can drink this water and get 84 essential minerals?

Drink this vitamin water with the above shown mineral water and you can feel OK about eating that McDonald's Big Mac for lunch.  You already have your nutrition covered for the day.

     Adding electrolytes seems to be a big selling point with waters.  Don't you know that it is just adding salt to regular water?

     Not getting enough caffeine from your daily Starbucks coffee?  Fill up on this caffeinated water.

   Finally if you haven't come up with a unique additive to water why not just market a cool looking shaped bottle like the one above?

    With what we are doing polluting our air are we just a few years away from some marketer coming up with bottled air from some mountain location?  Maybe even package it in a cool looking tank designed by a celebrity. With commercials playing songs from the Sound of Music in the background.  Is Julie Andrews still alive?

P.S.

   

    

     Celebrate "Pi Day" 3/14 with Tom Coale at Linden Hall tonight at 7 pm.  Click here for tickets to this fundraiser for Tom's campaign for Delegate.