For centuries, wealthy Europeans travelled to spa towns to sample the water in a bid to cure specific ailments. According to James Salzman, the author of Drinking Water: A History, monks at holy wells produced special water flasks for pilgrims to take away as proof of their visit – a medieval example of the power of branding. ‘Rumours circulated of Madonna bathing in bottled water, and Jack Nicholson was photographed brandishing a bottle of Evian at the Oscars as if it were Cristal.’ Photograph: Larry Washburn/Getty Images/fStopį or a substance that falls out of the sky and springs from the earth of its own accord, water has always had an extraordinary commercial lure. Of water: a substance that, in developed countries, can be drunk for free from a tap without fear of contracting cholera. Sales of water are 100 times higher than in 1980. Last year, in the UK alone, consumption of water drinks grew by 8.2%, equating to a retail value of more than £2.5bn. The global market was valued at $157bn in 2013, and is expected to reach $280bn by 2020. Over the past two decades, bottled water has become the fastest-growing drinks market in the world. Water is no longer simply water – it has become a commercial blank slate, a word on to which any possible ingredient or fantastical, life-enhancing promise can be attached.Īnd it’s working. It is a case of capitalism at its most hyperactive and brazenly inventive: take a freely available substance, dress it up in countless different costumes and then sell it as something new and capable of transforming body, mind, soul. Not just another bland still or sparkling, but some entirely new definition of the element. Right now, the global bottled water industry is in one of those strange and energetic boom phases where every week, it seems, a new product finds its way on to the shelves. Planet Organic’s display was impressive, but only hinted at the full range of waters available to the hydration-conscious consumer.
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