In the world of premium bottled waters, Fiji might as well be U2. Both imports hit American shores with a splash, and put in years of hard work earning fans before ascending to their field’s top spot. Fiji entered in 1997, and surpassed Evian as America’s number-one luxury water in 2006. Now Fiji seems to define the category.
But there’s an unfortunate side effect to being on top: eventually, you fall. And with consumers, environmentalists and politicians bristling at the environmental ramifications of bottling and shipping water from far-away places, Fiji could be at risk to lose its audience. But instead of trotting out the same old songs, the master of the premium bottled water category has rearranged its set list to bolster its environmentally-friendly credentials and please a crowd that thinks of green as more than the color of money.
That crowd – those hip, young affluent trend-setters –initially came to Fiji because of the water’s exotic source, attractive packaging and conspicuous placement at celebrity-filled events. The water earned a badge value that made it an “attainable luxury,” according to Clarence Chia, Fiji’s brand manager. But that was before consumers started calculating their carbon footprints for fun.
Where consumers go, politicians are sure to follow – especially when they have an easy target like bottled water. Local governments have passed resolutions to no longer purchase the product, and even levied a tax on it. The state of Connecticut may end its bottled water contract with Nestle in favor of installing more water fountains in public buildings. At the national level, two Democratic representatives asked the Government Accountability Office to take a hard look at the growth of the bottled industry, which is booming while U,S, citizens enjoy what the representatives called “one of the safest supplies of tap water in the world.”