Dasani Water

About

Dasani is one of The Coca-Cola Company’s many brands of bottled water sold around the world. Originally launched in 1999, Dasani uses tap water from local municipal water supplies that is filtered through a reverse osmosis process with added minerals for flavor, including table salt, Epsom salt and potassium salt. Since launching, Dasani has had a series of PR catastrophes and a general dislike for the brand, commonly seen in online discussion and through memes. There are also several conspiracy theories that revolve around the water's additives.

History

On February 19th, 1999, Coca-Cola announced that it would enter the bottled water market with Dasani in a move to compete with its rival PepsiCo Inc., which launched in 1994. Officials from The Coca-Cola Company^[1] said the decision was made after receiving pressure from bottlers that carried competing products but wanted a Coke-branded option to sell. Scott Jacobson, a spokesman for the company, said, “Many of our bottlers have felt that consumers in their territory wanted a bottled water brand, and we did not have one. Bottlers can more fully leverage the growth in bottled water category if the brand they carry is a Coca-Cola brand so they can take advantage of synergies within the Coke system.”

On February 10th, 2004, Coca-Cola then introduced Dasani to the United Kingdom, where it proceeded to flop and become a PR nightmare. After a multi-million-pound marketing campaign to help push the brand into the country, the product failed and was pulled from the shelves just five weeks after launch. BBC^[2] reported that “Unlike most of the bottled water sold in British petrol stations and supermarkets, Dasani hadn't come from alpine glaciers or trickled out of a precious natural spring – it had come out of the local tap.” Numerous media outlets pounced on the story and mocked the company for selling tap water at a 3,000 percent markup. The final nail in the coffin came on March 18th, 2004, when a batch of minerals at the Dasani plant became contaminated with too much bromate, a potential carcinogen.

Reception

Over the years, Dasani’s additives have been a frequent source of discussion, sparking several online debates and even conspiracy theories. On YouTube, there are numerous videos featuring people doing “bottled water tests” that consist of things like taste, pH level, distilling/boiling, measuring total solids and cracking open bottles to see if they’re carbonated or not. One such video comes from the YouTube^[3] account ION ALKALINE WATER, LLC, uploaded on January 27th, 2015. In this video (seen below), Dasani and several other bottled water brands are tested for their pH level to determine the presence of acid. The test ultimately concludes that Dasani is acidic, adding, “It looks like pee, and you don’t wanna put pee in your body.”

On Reddit, the site’s preeminent water-loving sub r/HydroHomies can also be frequently seen mocking Dasani water through memes. An example of this was posted to the subreddit on April 23rd, 2019, by Redditor^[4] glukhovsky94. The meme (shown below) was posted under the title “Dasani bad,” receiving over 1,100 upvotes and 80 comments.

On April 4th, 2020, YouTuber^[5] Shane Dawson released his video “Craziest Conspiracy Theories” that discusses the Dasani water conspiracy, reigniting the debate around the internet. In the video (seen below), Dawson discusses the additives of Dasani, performs a few tests and concludes that it appears to be much different than other bottled water products available on the market. As of April 8th, 2020, the video has been viewed almost 9 million times and liked over 620,000 times.

Dasani Hate During the 2020 Coronavirus Pandemic

In March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe (particularly in the United States), several users on social media began pointing out that no one was buying Dasani water, despite many hoarding water and other supplies. Redditor^[6] likeatrackmeet_zooom posted a photo of their local supermarket sold out of everything but Dasani under the title, “Coronavirus is starting a panic and people still aren’t buying Dasani water LMAO.” The post (shown below) received nearly 25,000 upvotes, 700 comments and a couple of Reddit awards.

On Twitter, users also posted about the bottled water shortage, noting that Dasani was often the only option left. Seen in a post on March 12th, 2020, Twitter^[7] user justbeingtmac tweeted a video from the I Must Kermit Suicide meme alongside the caption, “When I get to the supermarket and realize Dasani is the only water left.” The tweet (seen below) received over 13,300 likes and roughly 3,000 retweets.

When I get to the supermarket and realize Dasani is the only water left #CoronavirusPandemic pic.twitter.com/VQlc2ZkPS7

— Tmac (@justbeingtmac) March 13, 2020

Following the flurry of Dasani-related hate, many online were confused as to why the brand was being so demonized. One such example of this was posted on March 16th, 2020, by Redditor^[8] MoistMoms, who asked “What is going on with the hatred for Dasani water?” on r/OutoftheLoop. The most upvoted answer in the thread comes from Redditor newaccount_5009 who said:

“Answer: Other comments here ignore the real reason: How Dasani makes it to the store shelves. People are right to point out that Dansani water isn't anything special, but the real reason for the memes has to do with supply chains. For most brands, the store orders pallets of the product, puts it in the back, and has their own employees bring it out to the shelves. For Coke products (Dasani included), a representative from Coca Cola stocks the shelves rather than store employees. As a result, while all the other water has flown off the shelves, Dasani is fully stocked because Coke is able to keep up with the supply better. This leads to a bunch of memes with people taking pictures of shelves that are otherwise completely empty, but fully stocked with Dasani. Source: Used to work in a grocery store back in high school.”

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References