Could business dry up for the bottled water suppliers?

Quite possibly. See www.tappening.com for more info. (Via Chris Arnold on Brand Republic – registration required).

This is a US-only campaign at the moment, but it would be equally appropriate in the UK (even if we’re not quite as addicted to bottled water as our American cousins).

There’s no Facebook group for this initiative as yet. I guess it’s a sign of the times that this comes as a surprise.

Here’s an extract from Chris’s post:

“Many people believe that bottled water is a healthy option – well that’s the effect of good marketing. In fact most bottled waters wouldn’t meet the tough regulations for tap water, though ironically 25% of bottled water is actually water from municipal water supplies. Just to highlight what a con bottled water is, one well known brand comes from a well on an industrial estate next to a toxic waste dump (though the picture of a mountain on the label doesn’t give that impression)…

From transport to manufacture to landfill, bottles (both plastic and glass) are being seen as ungreen. Bottled water is the new enemy of the green movement.

The ‘tappening’ campaign is encouraging people to drink only tap water and to send a green message to the bottled water industry about its extreme waste of fossil fuels and resultant pollution of the earth. Two agencies in the US, DiMassimo Goldstein and Ericho Communications, have created a message in a bottle campaign with the slogan ‘Think Global, Drink Local.’

They have already sent thousands of bottles to Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent and are aiming to send a million (though I think Coke has already got the point).”