I took a picture of this Volvic ad because I thought it was hilarious. It's posted right outside a grocery store near my place. If you purchase bottled water (four to be precise) you are eligible to receive a “Free” water bottle. That seems a bit odd in that water bottles (which are a perfect way to carry around your water) are also used because they are reusable and better for the environment than bottled water. But, the store will only give you the water bottle if you buy four un-recyclable, over-priced, energy intensive and wasteful bottles of bottled water.
Let’s do some quick math: if twenty customers, on average, everyday over one week were attracted by this bizarre incentive and went ahead with the deal, we would have the following:
20 persons/day x 4 bottled water = 80 bottles of water/day in aggregate or 4 per person/day.
80 bottles/day x 7 days = 560 bottles per week.
The price of one 500 ML bottled water at the store is 15 HK dollars ($2.02 CAN). So you need to spend $60 HK dollars in order to receive the free water bottle that probably costs the same price but, alas, is harder to find.
Not to totally criticize the Volvic deal, but it’s pretty horrendous for the environment. We have blogged about bottled water and its unfortunate realities numerous times. Sadly, drinking water from the tap in Hong Kong is simply not the same as it is in Canada because the water is not treated as adequately. I have been advised not to drink tap water so I have been consuming bottled water here at my place. Indeed, I am somewhat of a hypocrite, but truthfully, I have no other option.
It makes me think how fortunate we are in Canada to have clean, affordable and environmentally-friendly drinking water right at the turn of the tap.
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