Are consumers daft?
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03/08/2007
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Economist (London)
An extract from our weekly column on business
SO THE emperor really isn't wearing any clothes. Last week PepsiCo announced that the label on its Aquafina brand of bottled water will soon carry the words "public water source", instead of the innocent-looking "p.w.s.". That's right: Aquafina is to all intents and purposes tap water. Coca-Cola is under pressure to follow suit with its Dasani brand, though so far it is refusing to do so. "We don't believe that consumers are confused about the source of Dasani water," Diana Garza Ciarlante, a Coca-Cola spokeswoman, said. "The label clearly states that it is purified water."
No doubt Coca-Cola still remembers what happened in Britain in 2004, when the press made a stink over the fact that Dasani was simply filtered tap water. The company became a laughing stock...No sooner had the initial furore died down than Coca-Cola discovered that some of the water had been contaminated betwixt tap and bottle, and decided to admit defeat. Dasani was axed in Britain a mere five weeks after it was launched.
Will Pepsi's new label have a similarly disastrous impact on sales of Aquafina, the market leader in bottled waters in America? It is by no means inevitable...