ABOUT
Smart discussion of the latest science and news on toxins in your food, water, and air, and what government agencies should be doing to protect public health. Written by EWG staff.
DONATE TO EWG!
Help us protect your health and environment! Please donate $5 to EWG today.
GET EWG'S TIPS & ACTION ALERTS
Sign Up here to receive email updates and tips from EWG and stay informed on the issues that matter most to you.
ENVIROBLOG VIA EMAIL
Join EWG's live chat with Chef Ann Cooper
School lunch: More fruits & veggies, please!
Texas Schools are Drilling for Dollars
Why do blowouts take so long to fix?
SEARCH ENVIROBLOG
FEATURED
Support the 2010 Safe Cosmetics Act. It's Urgent.
Why, oh why is there plastic in my aluminum water bottle?
Cell phone radiation series - Part 2: 8 Ways to reduce your exposure
Test Your Knowledge of Cosmetics Safety: 8 Myths Debunked
EWG's Tips for Parents: The Series
EWG's Tips to avoid BPA exposure
EWG on TV
Cutting the Pork from U.S. Farm Bill
Sunscreen safety & DC drinking water
Perchlorate in people, kids' personal care products & plastics, and sunscreen
BPA in baby formula & safe cosmetics
What can I do about fluoride in my water?
What is new carpet treated with? What can I do?
Are stainless steel water bottles safe?
Is mineral-based makeup safer?
PEOPLE TALKING TOXICS
TALK TO US
Did we miss something? Email Enviroblog.
« At what price tuna? | Main | Toxic parties? You bet. »
Will the Evian babies make you stupider?
By Elaine Shannon
In our case, just the opposite: watching those chubby-cheeked acrobats fires our curiosity. How do they do that?
Okay, we know it's just digital-age magic, but it's still fun.
The video must have the same effect on other people, judging by the millions of views on You Tube.
In fact, the spot seems to be doing exactly what ads are supposed to do - getting people interested in a brand.
Only problem is, when we search Evian.com, we find out a lot less about the actual water in the Evian bottle than we used to, pre-roller-babies. According to Youtube, the making-of video about the roller babies video has attracted an audience of millions. What if Evian paid as much attention to explaining the making of the bottled water?
As recently as last month, Environmental Working Group's research staff, which was rating bottled waters for adequate disclosure, found Evian to be considerably more informative than many of its competitors.
Evian's website named the specific source (Cachat Spring), described its treatment method succinctly (none) and linked to an 11-page water quality report with test results for a long list of chemical contaminants.
Why wouldn't Evian want to feature this report? Go figure, because the water comes off well: no contaminants above permissible levels and full compliance with all regulations.
But in recent weeks, now that roller babies have invaded the website, the water quality report has vanished. At least. If it's there, we can't find it. If you can, flag us.
The site no longer identifies the water's source nor treatment method, other than to claim the water is "untouched by man."
Instead of testing results, the site offers medicine-show slogans, for instance, that the water is the "essence of purity." Its invitation to "renew your youth" isn't just hot air. It's downright condescending.
Bottom line. Roller babies, brilliant. But the folks at Evian have a thing or two to learn about cyberspace. The web has plenty of room to accommodate straight-forward, science-based reports detailing what's in the bottles, so prospective customers can make informed choices. There are these devices called hyperlinks...
Is this hard?
Lack of disclosure earned Evian a C on EWG's bottled water report, "Is Your Bottled Water Worth It?" That's a better grade than rivals Perrier and Pellegrino, which both flunked.
Evian could have scored so much higher if it hadn't dumbed down its website and dulled its appeal to thinking people.
Until Evian realizes it can entertain and enlighten, we're switching our loyalties to You Tube's "puppy vs. cat."
Where there's a will there's a way and I'm certain the net will show this report up sooner or later.
Fact is, our water bought or supplied is far from pure. Tainted with pharmaceuticals and more. Best part is the water in my fish pond is safer and even if tainted with anti-depress meds, at least the fish are calm.
Paying for something God intended for us to use to survive is the onset of mans greed and hunger for control over the weak.
Should we have to pay for nature's purity! NOT! Should Coke-a-Cola be allowed to dominate the worlds water supply! NOT!
We humans are so gullible at times to be caught up in the world of addictive greed - blinded from the truth of our own weakness. Just think if we went back to basics where energy drinks and commercial pops don't exist.
Wow, a much better and cleaner world today would be the result rather then global warming and toxic buildups.
The world markets are built upon supply and demand, where if the demand is not present it is created as seen via the lot of visual marketing messages pounding into us daily. Thus, open your eyes to see what is not seen and take check into how we are supporting our own downfall through buying from companies that are destroying that which is so crucial to our very existence.
Thanks, Gary. I should have added that EWG didn't give any bottled waters an A. EWG gives out As to filtered tap water, period. Bottled water costs up to 1,900 times more than tap water. In the U.S., tap water is regulated far more stringently than bottled water. Under federal law, municipal water utilities must make extensive disclosures of contaminant testing. Many voluntarily disclose more about their treatment methods than the law requires. Water bottlers are, with rare exceptions, secretive. Why do they behave as if they have something to hide? Then there's the plastic bottle problem, which is vast.
So, all, in all, much better to decant some filtered tap water at home than to keep clogging our landfills and ocean with plastic. And, of course, some plastic water bottles are made with bisphenol A, a synthetic estrogen that endangers people and animals in the aquatic environment.
Elaine Shannon
Hello Elaine and thank you for the compliments regarding our Evian Roller Babies/Evian Live Young Ad. With the world economic situation the way it is, we are delighted that it has brought smiles to people around the world and that the vast majority of people love the Ad.
I read your blog and felt compelled to correct a couple of inaccuracies and also explain why it is that our Water Quality Report has become more difficult to find on our web site.
1) Evian is not owned by the Coca Cola Company. In fact, Evian is owned by Danone who also owns the Dannon Yogurt brand in the United States. Core to Danone strategy is to provide healthy products to consumers around the world and therefore we participate and focus in 4 core businesses; Fresh Dairy Products, Baby Nutrition, Medical Nutrition and, of course Waters. Coke was only associated to the Evian brand as they "were" the Master Distributor for the brand in North America. As of July 4th, this is no longer the case.
2) You are correct to assume that somehow the new Evian Live Young Campaign had something do with the apparent non-availability of our Evian US local site; and subsequent difficulty in getting the Evian Water Quality Report. It was simply human error and which we have been desperately trying to fix for the last couple of weeks. You can imagine that we were NOT very pleased with this error, especially since we have garnered millions of individual interest in Evian Natural Spring Water. We view our web site as not just a marketing tool but more importantly, an education information tool for consumers. Your reader Gary's comments is a prime example why Evian insists on being fully transparent. I am happy to report that the local site is finally up and running again. Just visit us at www.evian.com. Click on the USA site and then click on the Contact Us and you will find the Water Quality Report there. Note that we will be making this report more prevalent on the web site as I personally believe that it needs to be easily found. Additionally, I encourage you and your readers to visit the “Evian and the Environment” section.
Elio Pacheco
President - Danone Waters of America
Dear Mr. Pacheco -- Point taken. You're saying Danone, not Coca-Cola, is the parent of Evian, and just this month Coca-Cola was no longer the main U.S. distributor. Thank you for updating us. I 've removed Coca-Cola's name from the post about Evian.
We're very to hear Evian has fixed its website so that it once again makes its water quality report, which, as we noted, is quite meticulous, available. Well, we've all suffered from website content-eating gremlins. It's good to hear from a company that takes seriously its obligations to its customers and believes, as we do, that transparency pays off.
Best,
Elaine Shannon
Editor-in-chief
Environmental Working Group.
Elaine,
I was with you right up until puppies vs. cat. What was that? :)
-Jen
Dear Jen,
Just having a bit of fun.
Point is, many of us get a kick out a bit of clever video, whether it's the Evian roller babies, or extraordinary amateur endeavors like a lone cat intimidating a passel of puppies, or, among the weekend's viral sensations, the JK Wedding Entrance Dance, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0]
But we think companies like Evian, and all the other water bottlers, should give consumers more than entertainment -- serious, detailed information about their products. So we were not happy to see Evian's website given over to its video and its water quality report nowhere to be found. As you'll see in the letter below, from Elio Pacheco, president of Danone Waters of America, Evian's US website broke down. but it's back up, and interested readers can find the Evian Water Quality report at: http://www.evian.com/us/index.php.
Elaine Shannon