Ethical Water?

Walking into a Starbucks the other day I noticed that they were selling a different kind of bottled water. Ethos Water boasts that buying a bottle helps save thirsty children in far off places. It's a snazzy campaign built on, like many these days are, the concept that consumerism can be ethical. Why buy that Everest bottle when purchasing an Ethos water will also save the lives of children?

The truth is, clichedly, a little bit harder to swallow. Oddly enough, it's printed right there on the bottle and on the front page of their chic, Flash webpage.

They, technically Starbucks, donates a whopping five cents to the cause - their goal being to donate $10 million within the next five years. And to be honest, $10 million is a decent goal. Unfortunately for anyone with a taste for cynicism, donating 5 cents of every bottle purchased (less than 4% of the price) is the equivalent of giving a homeless man a nickel, punching him in the throat, and shouting from the street corners about your genorocity.

Here's a little math: How much water does Ethos have to sell to reach their goal? At 5 cents per bottle, that's 200 million bottles over the next 5 years (40 million per year). And just how much money will Ethos be making if they reach this heartwarming goal?

The price at my local Starbuck's was $1.49. Remove the 5 selflessly donated cents and about 40 cents for production cost, and the total comes to $1.04. Multiplied by 200 million bottles, and Ethos is making $192,307,692 over the next five years in order to lovingly donate $10 million to the poor children of the world's water needs.

But a business needs to run, right? True. But the problem isn't with keeping the business afloat in order to serve the needs of the lower classes and underdeveloped countries. There are plenty of non-profit organizations out there like Water Partners who actually work to get underdeveloped countries the water they need without all of the grandstanding that Ethos does.

Ethos is a business using a marketing technique that has recently become highly effective. Tell a guilt-ridden middle-class that they can do their part to save the world just by purcashing something hip at their local Starbucks beanery. It feels good to donate to a cause, right? Trust me. It does. And that's the reason that marketing like this is so effective. It creates an environment for the consumer to feel good about something they would have already done.

So if it came down to buying Ethos or any other bottled water, shouldn't you just buy Ethos since it's on par with the rest AND donates the money?

Don't pull out your wallet just yet.

Like I said earlier, Ethos was $1.49 at the local Starbucks (prices may vary), and, with most things in economics, if you went to the supermarket and bought a 6 or 24 pack of bottled water, you'd be saving enough money per bottle to donate 10 cents to any water cause of your choice.

You'd be doing twice as much as Ethos is.

If you're actually interested in doing so, check out these sources.