I'll regretably admit that there was a time that I once bought into the con of bottled water. Now my eyes have been opened, and I look at myself. What the fuck was I thinking?
Half a litre of water costs what to produce exactly? Fractions of a penny. Add on some packaging and it'll cost a couple of pence. Yet people are willing to pay sometimes over £1 for 500ml. That's got to be a 5,000% mark up. Somewhere along those lines. What exactly do people think that they are getting, that is superior to what comes out of their tap? Yes you can carry it about. But once you've bought one bottle of water, why do you not just fill it up from the tap? The answer: marketing.
Through my degree, I've realised that marketing is one of the biggest distorters of the market system. Preventing consumers from receiving accurate knowledge, and bombarding them with false images and brands that consumers believe is something its not. And in few industries is this more true than in bottled water. How else do you explain why people pay such a ridiculous mark up on a product?
How does, Volvic, for example, promote their water. It travels through a volcano!!!
So fucking what. Does water travelling through a volcano provide any nutritional benefits? Any health benefits? Any benefits at all? No. It's still
fucking water. Just like the free stuff that comes out your tap. Have the water companies ever publically said that bottled water provides any
benefits? Not to my knowledge. They just create marketing ploys that make people believe that, without actually saying it. Strictly therefore,
they're not actually lying, and have not done anything wrong. And I cannot fault them for that. I've just spent 4 years studying a business degree
for fucks sake. Otherwise known as a "how to screw people out of as much money as possible" degree. And that is the world we live in.
Everyone looks after themselves by screwing everyone else. It's survival of the fittest. Turbo. But no, I cannot fault the water companies for their
methods. They're doing what any business does. They're looking after their own interests by taking out the pockets of others. What I do fault, is the
market system we've built, and that we live in. One that simply allows people to be exploited. More than that though, I blame the mugs of consumers
whom buy into the bullshit marketing that companies throw at us. The most valuable thing that I will take from my degree, is being able to spot
when a product provides little benefits apart from good marketing. Like bottled water. Like designer labels. Do £50 designer fragrances provide
any benefits to using Tesco's own brand fragrances (if they have any)? Nope. They're both just scented water. It's just one masquerades to be a
magical life altering product, where as the other just says what it is. Smelly water. Yet mugs of consumers will pay the £50 because they have
bought into this marketing. Just like buying water because it has been through a volcano. Just like buying a new Gillette Mach 3 razor, because
they released a new turbo version! It's still the same fucking razor. They just changed the packaging and wrote turbo on the end. It doesn't shave
you any better.
That I think is the main thing I will take from my degree. I learnt how not to be a mug. Because many businesses make profits by selling things for
more than they're worth. And if you buy something for more than it's worth, then you're a mug in my book. But in saying that, I'm offending 99% of
people. It's such a nice world we live in. We screw each other to line our own pockets. And when we get more money than we need, do we give it back?
Nope, we stockpile it. I'm sure that if there was a cap on the amount of savings a person or business could possess, then there would be no homeless
people. No people living on the street. But that's asking a bit much. How will these people survive on £1 billion instead of 5? They might only
be able to have 1 private jet. How would they live? I feel so proud to live in a capitalist society. Even when we have more than we will ever need,
we still take from those who have nothing. Human nature in full effect. And I guess, in lies that, is the protest over globalisation. Just on a much
larger scale. Just as the homeless person can do little to compete with the billionaire, and shall forever be at his mercy. When the world is
operating in a one global economy, what can the poor countries do to compete with the rich? It is a security blanket to ensure the powerful remain
powerful, and the vulnerable can do nothing. If this is the world we are being forced to live in, then I disagree with it entirely. But having to
be on one side of the rich/poor divide, I am thankful for where I was born.
Page written on: 23 May 2008
