Scientists predict that water will be the most valuable commodity on Earth, eventually surpassing oil. Not only does only 3% of the world’s water resources contain clean water, two-thirds of which is inaccessible because it is stored in glaciers, but by 2025, approximately 1.8 billion people will live in countries or regions with “absolute” water scarcity. This alarming statistic inspired Adam McKay, the creator of Don’t look up, to portray a dark comedy about the realistic future of the world: politicians who do not believe in science, irreversible damage to the planet and all the resulting problems. Given that water is soon to become a much-discussed topic in the context of crises, along with inflation, it is perhaps no surprise that become a trend in the recent months. Expensive bottles of water and flavored capsules, clear ice (first made in 2009 by Camper English) and zero-calorie vitamin drinks flood our food every day, anticipating what will become real showmanship phenomenon within a year, like Birkin bags. There will be water soon the 1% status symbolboth to those who sell it and to those who drink it, a commodity that should be free and available to all, but in a world in the last stage of capitalism it is advertised as a brand to identify with, sometimes even aspirational.
Several factors have made a difference water marketing, one of which is the exclusive bars in international capitals. in New York, Bar Moga draws inspiration from Japanese architecture and menu offering to customers ice cubes from Mount Haku, nearly 10,000 kilometers away. Some cocktails require a specific form of ice, but as you can tell from a few physics lessons, tap water has the same properties as water from any Japanese mountain. As Camper English, the inventor of “pure ice”, told The Guardian, only the social quality changes – after all, no one would think to watch a TikTok video about making ice cubes with tap water.
In your own way, Stanley Cup follows the same social logic as the clear ice and water imported from Mount Haku used by Bar Moga’s mixologists. Large aluminum bottles brought back into fashion thanks to the winning marketing strategy of Terence Reilly, former chief marketing officer of Crocs, uses TikTok to regain lost glory. Now the Holy Grail of teenagers who want embrace the clean girl aestheticThere is a Stanley Cup multiplied the growth of the company tenfold in the past four years, becoming a generational icon #WaterTalk community. Just as Instagram has witnessed the rise of fashion influencers with different suitability checks and ootdTikTok is already seeing the popularity of formats like “Water of the Day”, recipes involving crushed ice, powders, colored syrups, and water (poured from a plastic bottle) poured strictly into the largest Stanley Cup ever seen. They are called Unicorn Water, Birthday cake waterand Apple water with salted caramelmixtures rich in artificial substances and poor in nutrients.
Six years have passed since the launch of Evian water in collaboration with Chiara Ferragni, eight since it was trendy to post bottles of Fiji on your Instagram feed and VSCO. Since then, the world has seen the cardboard packaging of AquaPaxep Hydro Flask used by followers of Emma Chamberlain, the perfect minerals for fitness brothers from blkand the three-liter jugs with motivational phrases – “Drink More”, “Eye on Your Goal”, “No Excuses”. If today the Evian bottle with The Blonde Salad graphic sells for €1,500 on acquedilusso.com and has water tasting events frequented by real sommeliers, it’s because some marketing genius has managed to turn a necessity, soon to be a scarce resource, into a branded luxury item. With the paradox of choice, capitalism has made us believe in the artificial freedom of drink the type of water that represents us the most. Today, do you feel like a pure girl who spends her days smoothing out wrinkles with gua sha and sipping from a confetti pink Stanley cup, or just a regular person pouring a glass of tap water at home?
