In the United States, beverages like Smart Water and Vitamin Water are cashing in on the latest trend of abandoning fizzy soft drinks in favor of natural drinks. Of the natural drinks, nothing is more natural than water itself. Bottled water was always popular but to make it trendy for the young adult demographic, we have new flavored water drinks that are rapidly catching on.
Water – Water Flavors – Sugar
Water is definitely great when referring to its effects on health because of its purity, natural flavor and lack of additives. It is mixed with some fruit flavors to add to the taste and to make it hip, cool. All appears in contrast to the jocks that drink their Gatorades and PowerAde drinks.
The problem is that the sweetness in the flavors comes with added sugar content. Manufacturers do not tell you this. These brands are themselves subsidiaries of large soft drink manufacturers like Pepsi or Coca-Cola. In life we all learn that everything has a price tag associated and it is quite sad to see that water is also something that can be bought by the big firms, taking advantage of our needs.
Vitamin Water – Gatorade
Beverage companies know that there is a health conscious demographic that they can easily market their “natural” water-based drinks to and they do it so well. Vitamin water especially has gained popularity in the past few years with several gym enthusiasts carrying bottles with them during their workout sessions. Gatorade branded energy drinks have always been popular due to the claim of electrolytes boosting stamina during intense workout sessions, but they are different to the new flavored water drinks, despite being marketed and distributed by the same parent companies.
Marketing Health through Water Products
There are benefits and drawbacks of these drinks but the idea we should focus on is explaining how health is now being used as a major marketing tool amongst beverage manufacturers as health consciousness is gaining mass appeal.
Soft drinks have been criticized as being unhealthy, with more than necessary quantities of carbohydrates. Water drinks are now being sold to offset the backlash and give the health conscious market their own brand of beverages to associate with. While it may feel cool to have such associations with healthy image brands, one must realize that the manufacturers are only in it to sell the drinks. If there was no market and profit potential, brands would never be created.
The idea that these brands are caring for your health is misleading. However, there are still some that do care for the health of the consumer. It is very important that you stay focused on finding them instead of those that just want your money. With soft drinks we at least know that they are not healthy when over-consumed. With water based drinks we tend to think that this is not the case. Unfortunately, some of the flavored water products are actually worse than sodas.
Buy Natural Water!
In conclusion, natural water is always the best available choice. You can buy branded natural water since that is not a problem but you should stay away from artificially flavored water. It is not as good for your health as you may think!