Oooh look... Shiny

So the other day I stopped at the grocery store to get a few items for the trip up north. One of the things I needed was water. I know, I know, if I buy bottled water the earth will split in half and we will all die. But you have not tasted the water that comes out of the tap at the cabin. Anyway, I bought a couple of gallons, and then decided to buy a six pack of bottles, because we had four people going up in the car, two were kids who never drink enough water, and I thought this would be a good idea.

Then, only after deciding to get bottles of water, I walked over to the bottled water section. Among the six and twelve packs was one new brand that was on sale. It was called "Aquapod" and the bottles were funny shaped pod-like bottles in fancy colors.

It was the cheapest water, so I bought it. But it was also the water with the most impressive bit of marketing I've seen in a long time in the water area. So as I put the six pack of Aquapod water in the grocery basket, I said to myself, "There is no way that this is not going to garner significant attention."

An hour later, we are driving north through Michele Bachmann's congressional district and the kids got thirsty.

"Reach behind you in that cooler. There are bottles of water on top."

"Oh, wow, cool, look at these, these are cool," slurp slurp slurp.

So then at the cabin, I put the remaining Aquapods in the fridge. Somebody who was arrived later in a different car opens the fridge.

"Oh, wow, look at these cool bottles of water. Can I have one?"

A couple of days go by and we are on our way back. Amanda is thinking she would like a bottle of water for the trip. She's drinking for two, after all. So I give her an Aquapod.

"Oh, wow, look at this bottle. Strange. That must be what the kids were talking about all weekend."

Aquapod. It will keep you busy until the next gimmick.

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Oh! I've seen those! They're totally neat/weird! It makes drinking water fun! :P

I've found those bottles (as litter :-( ) and mocked them for their excessive and overhyped packaging. Notably, given the empty bottle, it was unreasonably difficult to see exactly what the actual product had been -- the word "water" was buried in flyspeck type among all the flash.

I'm depressed to hear that they actually entice children.

By David Harmon (not verified) on 10 Jul 2009 #permalink