Saturday, March 1, 2008

Ethos F'in Water. Are you serious?


I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but I do enjoy a cup once in a while. While I prefer Peet's Coffee, Starbucks also makes a good cup. I seem to think that plenty of other people tend to agree because there are always crowds of people clamoring for their own cups inside. I do think that Starbucks is a great company and a great brand, but I'm not overly impressed with their Ethos Water initiative. In fact, it really bothered me when I noticed it as I walked through Starbucks a few days ago.

This is the deal - Ethos Water, Helping Children Get Clean Water. It's a noble cause. But it quickly loses its appeal when you notice the price of the water. $1.80/bottle. Now if most of that $1.80 was going to helping children around the world get clean water, it would be great. But a paltry 5 cents of each sale goes to helping these children. What the hell is that? What do they do with the other buck 75? Yup, they turn a hefty profit I'm sure. For Starbucks, a company that prides itself on fair trade and promoting other noble and humane initiatives, to seemingly mislead consumers or to at least be profiting (probably well) from selling water in the guise of helping children get clean water is disgusting. I wonder if people are falling for this crap or just buy the water because they want a water and they don't have an alternative there...? So, if you feel the urge for helping children get access to clean water around the world, just donate some money instead - to WaterAid America (donate here)

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