For the people of the marketing industry, nothing is impossible, it seems. Consider Resource, Nestlé's "first domestically sourced premium brand of still water", just launched with a costly US advertising campaign aimed at thirsty females. "It's more than hydration," the ads say. Yes, it's a status symbol.
The real value of this product, the company claims, is that it reflects a woman's personality and status like no other water. A woman will be proud to carry around Resource - not mere unbranded water - in its distinctive packaging, as her "bottled water accessory", a Nestlé marketing executive told the New York Times.
But perhaps that woman would be better off drinking coffee: a newly-reported US study of 400,000 people over 50, followed for 18 years, found that those who drink two or three cups of coffee a day had a significantly better chance of still being alive than those who did not. And the increased chance of survival for women was even higher, 13 per cent.
Of course correlation does not prove causality, and various other studies over the years have shown that coffee, in large quantities at least, is not good for everyone's health.
Still, it can be only a matter of time before the coffee industry seizes on this new study to encourage us to drink their product. How long after that until we're all being told to drink coffee made with premium water?
