Bottled water bullshit

In a recent episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, the power of marketing to create fantasy beliefs in a product was made very clear. Customers simple believe that bottled water is somehow “better”, and are willing to shell out huge amount of dollars based on that belief. Is this a case for kudos to the power of marketing, or shame shame shame? What do you think?

One comment on “Bottled water bullshit”

1. Stilgherrian said:
   

   A few years ago, a friend and I thought we could make a killing by selling Caffeine-Free Orange Juice — of course orange juice having no caffeine to begin with.

   This week’s New Scientist magazine reports a fine scam. Someone is actually marketing skinny water, a “no-calorie water”, for $43.20 plus shipping for 24 bottles.

   But my favourite is P T Barnum’s possibly-apocryphal effort. Supposedly he bought a load of cheap tuna and packaged it as “White Salmon, guaranteed not to turn pink in the can.”

   
   9 August 2006 at 8:19 pm

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