So, it seems as though the ubiquitous "smartwater" is waging a war on regular water. Indeed, I got a copy of some crappy magazine called "Movies Rock!" with last weeks The New Yorker. The magazine is stuffed with advertisements, and a few terrible articles about music and movies.
The advertisement on the back of the magazine, and another inside, featured dull Jennifer Aniston for "smartwater". The copy on the first reads:
What do you drink for purity? It's dirty out there. Smartwater makes water the way nature used to, but in a totally pure environment. 100% pure water.
What an incredibly snide little snippet from their copywriters. And, of course, they conveniently leave out the fact that in their "making water" process (they must have some groundbreaking process of merging atoms to create totally new water) they use tons of energy, petroleum (for the plastics and transportation), and water itself!
Inside the magazine, a perhaps even more obnoxious little paragraph:
What do you drink for taste? The the swimming pool stuff. Or the tap. Or even the stuff from the ground. This water is pristine. Was never swum in or fell through the sky near the airport. It tastes the way nature intended. Clean. How smart is that?
Pristine? Ah, yes, but with lots of damage to the environment and everything else to make it pristine.
What's the point in attacking "tap water" (and doesn't THEIR water actually come from the tap, but then is purified via reverse osmosis or some crap??), especially when the tides are turning against such foolish consumption as bottled water.
The fact of the matter is that bottled water is hugely wasteful, in terms of energy, pollution, oil, disposal, and more. Now, it would be one thing if we didn't have access to clean water. But 99% of the people reading this site probably do... and it is simply outrageous that a company starts attacking the viability of our local sources of water to help sell it's product. (I have heard lots about this on NPR and other sources, but couldn't find a good link to document the problems with bottled water... can anyone help?)
If you MUST drink bottled water, won't you please consider NOT buying "smartwater"?