Saturday, July 28, 2007

Pepsi Admits that Aquafina is Tap Water

This really isn't that shocking.

NEW YORK - The label on Aquafina water bottles will soon be changed to spell out that the drink comes from the same source as tap water, the brand's owner PepsiCo said Friday.


A group called Corporate Accountability International has been pressuring bottled water sellers to curb what it calls misleading marketing practices.

Aquafina is the single biggest bottled water brand, and its bottles are now labeled "P.W.S." The new labels will spell out "public water source."

"If this helps clarify the fact that the water originates from public sources, then it's a reasonable thing to do," PepsiCo (nyse: PEP - news - people ) spokeswoman Michelle Naughton said Friday.

The corporate accountability group is also pressing for similar concessions from The Coca-Cola Co. (nyse: KO - news - people ), which owns the Dasani water brand, and Nestle (other-otc: NSRGY.PK - news - people ) Waters North America, seller of Nestle Pure Life purified drinking water, which gets some of its water from municipal sources.

Dasani's Web site says that Dasani comes from local water supplies and is then filtered.

"We don't believe that consumers are confused about the source of Dasani water," Coca-Cola spokeswoman Diana Garza Ciarlante said. "The label clearly states that it is purified water."


Now watch, everyone will claim to have known this all along. But if you did, why would you be buying Aquafina rather than carrying your own refillable bottle?

I didn't buy those brands so I don't care. We buy the occasional bottle of Earth Water still, in large part because of the charitable aspect of it. They claim that the their source is spring water but for all we know, we're getting hosed.

Get it? Hosed!

Never mind...

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