No Taste, Big Money

I grew up in communist Romania and for 14 years of my life I never drank bottled water. Because (besides sparkling water) there wasn't any. There was joy when weather was cooling in autumn and winter, because the water seemed more fresh and "tasty" and there was disappointment in summer time when we had to refrigerate it, though not escaping the chlorine taste that was used for germ purification and other scientific reasons.

Water is scientifically described as being tasteless and odorless, but the consumer perception is quite different. The most adaptable people split "waters" in two: drinkable or undrinkable. A simple yet flawless description: good for me or not good at all. The marketers on the other side, label the waters then split them into: club soda, mountain spring bubble or still water, mineral or demineralized water, ion charged or deionized water, rich in deuterium water, ultra > semi > light > medium > strong mineral water, with or without laxative effects, etc. etc. etc.

On occasion I drink Perrier. I am familiarized with the Brand and I accept it into my life based on one simple fact: I like the bottle. Simple as that, even if it makes me look like a fly fallen into a spider web, I bit the marketing recipe and became Brand aware. But if you follow what marketers say about Perrier it's other story. Most of my friends think of the cool bottle when Perrier is brought into discussion, but the marketers tell us that this water is extracted from the purest spring in the optimal conditions and it tastes... like Heaven. Evian too. San Pellegrino also. Everybody is bragging about the GOOD TASTE OF OUR WATER.

If you compare the ordinary household water with the up-mentioned brands you'll figure it out quickly what the main difference is: the bottled water has no taste at all. Not chlorine, not rust, not metal, no taste at all. But people keep buying them because they all taste great.

From my point of view, Perrier means a cool bottle, Evian means Paris Fashion Week and San Pellegrino is cool because its logo resembles with the Converse logo. Which is cool. They are all cool and refreshing but not because they are drawn from a well that connects directly to The Promised Land but because they are stored into refrigerators, as indicated on their labels. That's it.

So why don't be fair and speak accordingly to what people really think obout Your Brands, instead trying to convince us that water has... taste?