> A lot of people in the third world trust the cola cola company more than the local water supply to not poison them.
What a rotten situation to be in. Last time I was in India, there was a story on the local news about how the Coca Cola bottling plant managed to contaminate the product with motor oil somehow.
> When a country like India lacks drinking water a huge mass of people will be on the move.
Its my understanding Pepsi and Coca Cola have been an economic boon for the country, but in the process, monopolizes a large quantity of the water supply.
Maybe doing away with these two companies might be a positive first start?
> In a lot of African areas Coca Cola is cheaper than clean water! Just think about the health impact.
If it really is cheaper than potable water (enough to be considered an alternative!), then I'm sure that hydration concerns come well before dietary planning concerns.
What on earth is wrong with Coca Cola producing a finished soda product at a lower cost than competing water products?
> Nestlé buys water then turns it into something trademarked and sells it. That's free market - and it's a huge shit and should be stopped.
Why should it be stopped? People buy the water, people who want the water buy it. People will buy water whether it's Nestlé's product or Coca-Cola's. If they want to buy it from Nestlé, what is your problem with that?
Food is a commodity, food is not a right; but food is a necessity. Ideally people are fed, people make a serious effort to make this happen. Water is a commodity, not a right; whether or not it is a necessity has no bearing.
When you see farmers selling agricultural products in a marketplace it must make your blood boil. To think that they would make an effort to transform the natural resources of the land into a branded product and sell it; the nerve!
> I’m amazed how well their marketing worked to convince people that water is literally toxic unless it comes bottled.
Not too many people think this, there are so many places where the tap water is not good for drinking.
I have never in my life heard anybody talk about improving tap water to make it good for drinking, and when I mention it people dismiss it. And then everybody rages against bottled water.
> not only requested but insisted bottled water during the stay.
Yes, this happens all the time. It is amazing how distrustful people can be of fresh water in nature. I blame it on urbanisation and the cattle-fication of the population by the human farmers controlling schooling and media.
nothing in an of itself, but if you look at the strategies that Nestlé employ around the world to gain access to water while cynically damaging communities, it is hard to be on their side.
> It is true though that for whatever reason that I just cannot comprehend the majority of water sold in bottles in this country (Germany) is carbonated.
When I was a kid, my parents would only buy carbonated water. Still water was available from the tap. Today, I stopped buying even that, I can carbonate my water myself.
As to why we buy so much bottled water: Marketing. Some waters have a distinct taste, but at least for me, it’s just a matter of getting used to a different tap water taste when moving.
> It simply blows my mind the lack of common sense on the processing of something so well known and common as bottled water.
I tell you one better. Coca Cola was selling filtered and bottled tap water in the UK. During filtering they somehow managed to contaminate it with bromate a substance linked with an increased cancer risk - in excess of UK legal standards.
In Australia the tap water has very strict monitoring and is tested often. The water here tastes fine.
What is absolutely staggering is that bottled water is not monitored as strictly as tap water, yet costs about 1000x more. All those pictures of pristine waterfalls and bubbling springs are absolute bullshit. You are far more likely to get a hefty dose of chlorine or other containment from bottled water.
They are downright evil but kudos to the Coke marketing department. Who was the genius that pitched the idea of selling sub-standard water at 1000x the price of what we get from the tap? I'd have said its a ridiculous idea. Clearly I was wrong.
Personally, I use a soda-stream at home if I get a soda craving. Cheap, no health concerns, convenient and less impact on the environment. If I really feel I need some sugar I'll squeeze an orange into a litre of fizzy water. Still a bit of sugar but nothing compared to a coke.
Of course not, they leave still water in freshly manufactured plastic bottles.. Heathens¹.
I don't see what's odd about considering water contamination the way I do using water flow as a measure for disgust in comparison to buying plastic bottles to have less regulated water in some misguided sanitary-sealing concept of disgust.
> Nestlé will buy cheap water from a source - and not just part of it but pretty much all of it. then sells it overpriced as cola.
You could also look at the situation and conclude that the most expensive parts of bottling and selling either coca-cola or water are the bottles, the water purification, the transport, and the retail labour. There is nothing suspicious about Coca-Cola and similarly-packaged water being roughly the same price.
It is not obvious that the difference between the cost of producing Coca-Cola and the price of producing bottled water is so different that they should always be sold for different prices.
What a rotten situation to be in. Last time I was in India, there was a story on the local news about how the Coca Cola bottling plant managed to contaminate the product with motor oil somehow.
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