The biggest con game in modern history

[thatcrazycajun]

When as-yet-unborn historians, centuries hence, look through the records for the greatest, most successful, most amazingly lucrative swindles, flim-flams and con games in history, surely among that number will be the achievement of the world's beverage concerns in getting people all over this thirsty globe to shell out $33 billion each year for...something that falls from the sky and flows in the lakes and rivers, free of charge! (And all those non-biodegradable plastic bottles cluttering the streets and parks and clogging the sewers and landfills will surely seem a small price to pay...)
The Great Bottled Water Con

Comments

[wolfette]

the other part of the con, of course, is the spreading of the myth that everyone, including sedentary office workers in cool temperate climes and climate controlled offices need to drink "at least two litres of water per day - pure water, fruit juice, tea and coffee don't count". Claims that drinking this much water is (a) necessary or (b) "will make your skin better" (c) keep you younger, etc. That "most people are dehydrated - and mistake thirst for hunger".

We do need two litres of water per day - but that water can come from any source, including from food, tea, coffee, fruit juice, soda. Unless you're doing heavy work, living in a hot climate, doing lots of exercise, etc, you don't need to drink water constantly (and it can actually be bad for you if you do). It won't make your skin better (unless you actually were badly dehydrated) or keep you younger. (experiments done with identical twins showed NO difference between the twin who drank over two litres of water per day on top of her normal intake of coffee, tea, etc and the twin who only drank what she wanted when she was thirsty over a period of 3 weeks). As for the "most people mistake thirst for hunger" - uh, hello? perhaps if you've never actually experienced either of them for real. Sure, a glass of water will temporarily fill your stomach when you feel hunger pangs - that doesn't mean that it was water you actually needed. Ask famine victims.

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you for pointing this out. I've never understood why people are so heavily invested in the water myth, but they get angry and insulted if you call them on it (as I've mentioned in my LJ blog).

Whenever I can find unsweetened iced tea in bottles, I happily buy that instead of water but often water is the only choice if you want cold and wet without bubbles and sugar.

I am particularly honked that a bottle of Aquafina and a bottle of Pepsi cost the same. The Aquafina doesn't have sugar, coloring or carbonation. It SHOULD cost less. But it doesn't, and if I could make the same amount of money for tap water run through a filter with a few minerals added as I could something full of corn syrup and caramel coloring (and a little bit of fake citrus) that needed to be carbonated, I'd be on it like a flash.

But it's in the upper 80s outside right now, so the last thing I want to drink is water that's been sitting in my bag all day.

[kayshapero]

Well, those historians may also wonder why these articles never seem to consider the possibility that not all waters taste exactly alike. And that, strangely enough, people may have different preferences in the taste of the water they drink.