Aquafina comes from a tap; shudder to think about Trump Ice

So when Pepsi states that Aquafina is bottled at the "source P.W.S." they really mean "Public Water Source". In other words, it comes from a tap. The company reluctantly agreed to change its labeling today to clarify the origins of the product.

Pepsi will be hoping to avoid the kind of PR disaster that crippled Coca Cola's launch of Dasani in the UK. After skirting the issue for several few days Coke reluctantly came clean and ended up pulling the product from the shelves. (The British tabloids reveled in headlines such as "The Real Sting" and "Coke sells tap water for 95p").

Sneaky Business has established that the brouhaha around Aquafina is not unique in the frothy world of bottled water. Some of the more notable "sources of misdirection" include:

Brand	True Source
Aquafina	Public water source (PWS)
Dasani UK	PWS – Sidcup, south-east London
Poland Spring	Multiple sources, none in Poland
Highland Spring	Blackford, Perth, Kinross – none in the Highlands
Peckham Spring	PWS – Peckham, London
Trump Ice	Wouldn't like to say

The broader issues here, of course, concerns customer relationship management and brand protection. While Pepsi's actions were legal, they eroded the sacred trust between bottler and customer. Once that trust enters a slippery slope the whole ship can run off the rails.

We wish Pepsi well, and raise a glass (of Diet Sprite on PWS ice) in their direction.

Comments

[h2o lover]

vitamin water and smart water are both enhanced tap water.vapor distilled, deionized and/or reverse osmosis water... then they add all the flavor and vitamins. they don't even use the same filtering process at all the plants. talk about a scam! 4.1 billion dollar scam!

[Brian]

Speaking of Dasani and Aquafina...I have heard more and more recently about how these waters actually DEHYDRATE you (supposedly so you will drink more...corporate greed?)... does anyone actually have any facts about this?

Thanks