The Story of Bottled Water

Chris Pirillo — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:19:08 +0000

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The Story of Bottled Water employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand – how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week.

The video begins with the narrator describing the “worst advertising in campaign in history”… that of Fiji bottled water. Fiji created an entire ad campaign around their perceived notion that Fiji water was somehow superior to the tap water found in Cleveland, Ohio. The people of Cleveland were not happy with this, and decided to take matters into their own hands. They conducted field tests, which proved that the tap water was in fact cleaner than the Fiji bottled water. In taste tests, the tap water beat out its bottled counterpart most of the time.

This is a trend all across the country. Tests keep showing that various brands of bottled water aren’t as pure and clean as the tap water it is tested against. Likewise, the taste tests are showing much of the time that the water in your sink just plain tastes better – and it costs far less.

Bottled water costs about two thousand times more than tap water does. Yet people in the US buy more than half of a billion of bottles of water every week. That is enough to circle the globe more than five times. All of this points back to manufactured demand.

In the 1970s, companies started to become scared when their sales started to decline. The manufacturers realized that there is only so much soda that people can drink. They also knew it was only a matter of time before people realized that soda isn’t really all that healthy, or good for them. This is when they came up with their next big idea – bottled water. Back then, most people laughed the idea away since water is basically free. How did the companies counter this skepticism? They manufactured demand.

With manufactured demand, companies actually scare people in a way, making you feel as though you are inferior if you don’t have whatever they are trying to sell. Next, they hide the reality of their product behind images of pure fantasy, such as with bottles of water showing off pictures of mountain streams. Dasani and Aquafina are two of the many brands that are actually filtered tap water (which you can get right in your own kitchen for a fraction of the cost). They certainly aren’t getting their water from some mythical pure mountain stream.

All of this boils down to the fact that we consumers in the United States (and in many other parts of the World) have spoiled ourselves. We don’t look beyond labels and hype anymore, and end up wasting an awful lot of money on things we don’t need.

What type of water are you drinking? Does watching this video give you any type of insight into what you maybe SHOULD be spending your money on?

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The Story of Bottled Water

Have You Ever Raced an ATV?

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:47:34 +0000

Have You Ever Raced an ATV?

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This morning, I opened my front door and found the package waiting for me that contained the new game from Disney. It’s called Pure, and is for the Xbox 360. Pure is a racing game, where you race an ATV.

The formula for Pure is simple: Take one off-road vehicle– the quad– and use it to rewrite the rules on what “video game extreme” really means. This is not dissimilar to what the Tony Hawk series did with the skateboard.

On the foundation side of things, one trip to the fleshed out, create-an-ATV Garage section will make it clear that Pure’s concentration on just quads was a good move. Intricately detailed and fully customizable four wheelers are comprised of a dizzying amount of polygons and animated parts. Real-deal bits from reputable sponsors help users in-the-know create copies of the hot machines currently in the ATV scene. Top one of Pure’s ATV’s off with an uber-flexible rider capable of uncanny trick sets, and you have the basis for a top-tier, extreme off-roader.

A little while before recording this video, I went through the training in the game. The people in the chat room watched me play, and saw me come in 16h place. Yes, there were only 16 places, but come on! It was my first time playing! The problem with this game is that it’s so high-action and graphics intense, I don’t think my webcam picked it up very well.

The game has excellent graphics, great handling… and it’s just an awesome game. The soundtrack really rocks out, too! I played again, and tried my best to win. So I like riding on hills and smashing into things. Isn’t that what makes it fun?!

Anyway, Pure is now available for purchase. My recommendation is that you grab it as soon as you have a chance. You’re not going to be disappointed, and that’s a guarantee.

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Have You Ever Raced an ATV?

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The Story of Bottled Water

Have You Ever Raced an ATV?