Lipstick on a Pig Dept.: Rob Walker on Fiji Water

fiji water new york times image We have discussed the so-called greening of Fiji Water, and ran a survey on it. Rob Walker of the New York Times' Consumed column, looks at the ambiguity of this. He writes:

But it’s probably wrongheaded to see Fiji’s greened-up image as being aimed at eco-opponents. It really speaks to consumers who are conflicted. Not so long ago we all felt good about drinking less soda; do we now have to feel guilty unless we drink tap water? Reid Lifset, the editor of Yale’s Journal of Industrial Ecology, says that bottle bills are a good idea but doesn’t swallow Fiji’s advocacy or other green measures as justifying the practice of transplanetary water shipments. Yet he empathizes with the consumer. “People don’t want to spend their lives wrapped up in ambiguities over one consumption decision,” he says. We want to be told whether something is terrible or perfectly acceptable. Fiji is offering its answer — an answer that, so far, people are still buying." ::New York Times via ::PSFK image: Peter Arkle