Fiji ad wisecrack prompts quality test

[Ally]

Fiji Water likes to brand itself the trendsetting thirst-quencher of celebrities, but it reaches for some hackneyed humor about Cleveland in its latest ad campaign.

"The label says Fiji because it's not bottled in Cleveland," boasts the full-page ad running in national magazines like Esquire.

Looks as if the joke is on Fiji.

The Cleveland Water Department ran tests comparing a bottle of Fiji to Cleveland tap water and some other national bottled brands. Fiji Water topped the pack in arsenic and other contaminants, the test showed.

"Before you take a cheap shot at somebody, know what you're talking about," said Cleveland Water Commissioner J. Christopher Nielson.

Adding insult to injury, the cheap shot was the brainchild of a man who grew up drinking Cleveland water. Edward Cochran, Fiji president, is a native of Bay Village, which gets its water from Cleveland. He said it was his idea for Fiji's advertising agency to make Cleveland the butt of the joke in a national campaign.

Cochran said the folks at Cleveland's Water Department need to get a sense of humor.

"It is only a joke," he said. "We had to pick some town."

But Cleveland has a national reputation for its water, and Public Utilities Director Julius Ciaccia sees no humor in trashing it.

When he learned of the ad, he got hold of a bottle of Fiji.

The tests show found 6.31 micrograms of arsenic per liter in the Fiji bottle, said Cleveland water quality manager Maggie Rodgers. Cleveland tap water as well Aquafina, Dasani and Evian had no measurable arsenic.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates municipal water supplies, and the Food and Drug Administration, which regulates bottled water, allow up to 10 micrograms per liter.

Cochran said his company's test results show Fiji's arsenic levels never exceed 2 micrograms per liter, but he declined to release those results.

He questioned the credibility of the Cleveland analysis.

"Cleveland's test is not an independent test," he said.

In the magazine ad, Fiji says its water comes from a natural artesian aquifer, where it is preserved and protected from external elements. The ad says the water is bottled at the source "after natural artesian pressure forces the water through a hermetically sealed delivery system free of human contact." "From the islands of Fiji," says the bottle.

Rodgers doesn't know for sure why the bottle of Fiji had arsenic but has a hunch. "It is a naturally occurring item in the earth's crust," she said.

Fiji also had the highest count in a test that detects Styrene or toluene, but Cochran said company tests show much lower levels.

For some in Cleveland, Fiji's water quality isn't the main issue. Rather, it's a company's attempt to get a laugh at the city's expense.

"It is a cheap marketing shot at Cleveland," Ciaccia said. "Why use Cleveland? Why not Hamburg, Germany?"

Cochran explained that Clevelanders are used to getting picked on and shrugging it off. He said he was recently in Cleveland and his friends said the ad is hilarious. Bill Stern, chief operating officer of Cleveland-based Stern Advertising, said the Fiji ad violates some primary rules of advertising, including keeping the message relevant to the here and now.

"There is a time warp here," he said. "It is so far off the mark. [Johnny] Carson used that in the '60s and '70s to get a laugh."

Stern, a self-described Cleveland booster who developed the Believe in Cleveland campaign promoting the city, said he had Fiji Water in his refrigerator until he learned of the ad.

"I had my own version of the Boston Tea Party," he said, "pouring it down the sink."



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I've bought the odd bottle of Fiji water and thought it was alright. Don't think I'll get it again.

And anyway I've found Ty Nant bottled water in the US now, so can have a drink of Wales when I'm on the go.

[Skylace]

I've tried it myself and wasn't that amazed. It was just water to me after all.
What I miss from the UK is Volvic water. Not only did I love the name, but the taste was great. I really miss their flavored waters. They tasted perfect without artifical sweetners.

[IRiSHMaFIA]

They've the same thing in usa and canada Skylace. Nestle Splash and it's brilliant. Give them a try. 0 calories and wicked flavours Hell they even sell taytos in canada now if you go to a special warehouse. It just doesn't get better than that now!

[Skylace]