Aquafina, PepsiCo’s best-selling bottled water, is changing its label to clarify its true source: city water supplies. The labels have never claimed to be spring water, but the price, packaging, and placement in stores apparently made enough of the world believe it was.

A group called Corporate Accountability International has been pressuring bottled water sellers to curb what it calls misleading marketing practices. The group has criticized PepsiCo over its blue Aquafina label with a mountain logo as perpetuating the misconception that the water comes from spring sources.

Aquafina is the single biggest bottled water brand, and its bottles are now labeled “P.W.S.” The new labels will spell out “public water source.”

So they still avoid the T word — tap — and “public water source” is still somewhat vague. (Someone might think the water comes from a public spring or well? Maybe?)

$11 billion of bottled water — combining spring water and purified tap water — was sold last year in the U.S. alone.

Aquafina Labels To Show Source: Tap Water [CBS News]
(Photo: gordasm)

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