Quite a few markets were created overnight. This is just one of them.
Another that comes to mind is bottled water. When soft drink company profits were declining, someone had the brilliant idea of just selling water. How would they get people to be gullible enough to buy rebottled tap water, though?
By telling people tap water was bad. It worked, very well.
Sometimes tap water is bad. I lived in a house with extremely hard water, and it was basically undrinkable. Of course, I was generally buying water in gallon or 2.2 gallon containers at the time.
When I buy bottled water today, I want an unflavored drink that is healthy. In my view, what I am actually paying for is not water. I am paying for a disposable bottle, convenience, and usually cold. That's why I pay extra for the sport bottles with the better top. There was probably latent demand for this, but people didn't know they actually wanted it. In general, at least in the US, because of the abundance created over the last 30 years through the production of cheap manufactured goods and innumerable process improvements, people are more willing to pay for things they never would have before.
And also, I am glad they succeeded in selling deodorant. It is definitely a quality of life improvement, as I notice when I visit places where deodorant usage is not prevalent. I generally don't view marketing as adversarial like many people though. If something exists that will improve my life, I want to know about it.
It's only convenient because you aren't prepared. Sometimes there are good reasons to not be prepared, but if you're bringing a car or a backpack along, you have a place to store water. Also it's a bit odd how much Americans obsess over water being ice cold.
Yeah, not so much. There's a huge difference between water from a brita pitcher and reverse osmosis-purified water from the water dispenser at the grocery store. The latter is basically indistinguishable from expensive Fiji water, and the former is basically indistinguishable from tap water (in my experience at least, and using LA tap water).
I've used PUR water filters for years. The filters don't indicate when they need to be changed, so I change them when they start filtering water slowly. In the past, when I lived in Los Angeles and Portland, filters would start filtering water slowly after a few months of use.
Now I live near Madison, Wisconsin, and I realized recently that my current filter has been in use for more than a year and it filters water just as quickly as the day I started using it. I contacted PUR to see if there might be something wrong with my dispenser, but the rep suggested that my city's water must be very clean.
So I learned that some cities have water that is much cleaner than others.
Quite a lot of places have tap water that tastes foul but is perfectly healthy - personally I think the water in London tastes disgusting compared to the water here in Edinburgh, but that's because I am used to the latter.
When I moved to Edinburgh from a small town in Moray that got its water from the Spey I thought Edinburgh tap water tasted disgusting.
I moved from Ireland to London last year, and personally found the water in London to be all but undrinkable.
Even when I moved back, I still hated the taste of tap water, and am now moving over to bottled water as regardless of anything else, it tastes so much better, therefore I drink more, which is good for me. Its disgraceful that I have to do this, but that's another argument.
Been there, done that. Its better, but still not good. I find it strange actually, as I smoke heavily and so would not expect to notice this as much as I do.
[NB I can remember by father saying the water supply comes from the Spey - no idea whether this is true or not! Certainly tastes pretty good compared to most water supplies.]
I grew up in Buckie myself and can't disagree. Elsewhere I've actually increased my tap water consumption to drinking it exclusively, but via Brita jugs.
It makes me happy that there's a fair chance electronic music royalty Boards of Canada went there. They supposedly lived on the NE coast, and one of their ancient uncovered tracks is called Buckie High.
Uh... actually... Most city water (in the US) I've drunk tastes really bad. It's not just marketing.
So we buy filtered water in bulk (refill multi-gallon jugs). There are also filters you can put on the tap. I think it's wasteful to buy bottled water, so I avoid it.
Another that comes to mind is bottled water. When soft drink company profits were declining, someone had the brilliant idea of just selling water. How would they get people to be gullible enough to buy rebottled tap water, though?
By telling people tap water was bad. It worked, very well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se12y9hSOM0