Bottled Water Set to Surpass Soda
Sales of bottled water will surpass those of carbonated soft drinks for the first time this year, as the rise of the former beverage category crosses paths with the continuing decline of the latter. Bloomberg attributed the shift not only to Americans’ ongoing evolution away from sugary beverages and towards healthier options, but also to consumer concerns regarding the safety of their tap water, citing recent cases of lead contamination in Flint, Michigan, Newark, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C.
“Concerns in places like Flint do bring bottled water to people’s attention as a safe and sealed source of drinking,” Nestle Waters North America spokeswoman Jane Lazgin told Bloomberg.
“People feeling unsafe about their drinking water clearly leads them to drink it out of a bottle,” added Ali Dibadj, a consumer analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said that essential improvements to the country’s water infrastructure through 2030 will cost at least $384 billion, while environmental watchdog group The Waterkeeper Alliance has said only $1.4 billion is currently being spent annually on such improvements.
LaCroix LaCroix Lacroix
Last week’s Press Clips column featured Munchies’ look at @PamplemousseLaCroixMemes, the unsolicited social media account paying tribute to and poking fun at the sparkling water brand. In the seven days since, LaCroix’s landed on our radar several more times. Broadly’s got a photo gallery of the brand’s new section at the Williamsburg Whole Foods, where it occupies its own corner of the store. Thrillist has published a ranked list of all 20 flavors. Lastly, Refinery29 posted rapper Rakeem’s “Sippin’ on La Croix” music video. Call it the Summer of Sparkling.
The CircleUp 25
Equity-based crowdfunding platform CircleUp has published its fourth annual list of The 25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands. Selected by an experienced cast of CEOs, investors, bankers and lawyers across several industries, beverage companies featured in the list included Califia Farms, Ripple, Bulletproof, Harmless Harvest, Chameleon Cold Brew, Health-Ade Kombucha, and GT’s Kombucha. CircleUp founder and CEO Ryan Caldbeck celebrated the brands for “going against the grain, breathing new life into staid consumer categories and creating new categories entirely.”
Sorry to Burst Your Bubble
Boba milk tea, also known as bubble tea, is being targeted by a group of researchers who say the Taiwanese tea beverage is just as bad as soda, despite perceptions amongst consumers that it has health benefits. Inquisitr recently looked at “Rethink Your Asian Drink,” a campaign raising awareness about the high sugar content of the drink.
Scot Chan, program manager for the Asian and Pacific Islander Obesity Prevention Alliance said a 12 oz. serving of Boba tea contains almost 90 grams of sugar, 7 grams of fat, and 490 calories, far outweighing the purported benefits of the tapioca pearls that contain essential minerals like iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. Chan went on to attribute the consumption of the beverage in Asian communities as a “silent contributor to the rising instances of diabetes.”