Is VitaminWater Actually Healthy?

In preparation for a late night mid-term cram session, I stopped by a convenience store in search of a thirst quenching and possibly caffeinated drink. I was choosing between a bottle of Coke or VitaminWater and I ended up purchasing VitaminWater after rationalizing that it must be the healthier choice. I was feeling pretty self-content about my decision until I took a look at the nutritional facts on the label. It turns out that I had just chugged 33 grams of sugar and consumed 125 calories (the marketers had ingeniously displayed the calorie amount of 50 for a half serving of the product so the nutritional information should be adjusted accordingly) which is even more than the sugar and calorie amount of a bottle of Coke!

My topic relates to Josh Andler’s blog post titled “Vitamin Water? …more like Sugar Water”. Josh elaborated on how the company was able to reach a broad target audience by transforming mere sugar water into a rejuvenating miracle elixir through various marketing strategies. VitaminWater takes advantage of the health conscious movement in society by creating a product that gives an illusion of wellbeing through its clean cut packaging, empowering flavor names (“endurance”, “energy” and “focus”), nutritional statistics, and bright colours. All of the above play a role in misleading customers into believing that they have selected the healthy choice when in fact they are just consuming sugar water. Isn’t it ironic that VitaminWater’s slogan is to “hydrate responsibly”? After my personal brand experience with Vitamin Water, I am more convinced than ever that one should engage in further research before believing everything that marketers put forward to prevent  being just another misinformed customer.

Here is a link to an insightful article that presents details of a lawsuit against Coca Cola Company (VitaminWater is owned by the company) charging for misleading advertising.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,2007106,00.html