
Liquid Death sells water - Vaslo
https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/nation-and-world/liquid-death-sells-water-to-tech-bros-who-are-too-cool-for-alcohol-20190507
======
lm28469
> he had raised an additional $1.6 million for his canned-water startup

It's always blowing my mind that smart/rich people invest time/energy/money in
such useless ventures. On one hand everyone knows we're fucking the planet big
time with mindless production/consumption, on the other hand you can spend
$21.99 on 6L of water, in alu cans ... sweet sweet ""progress"" I guess.

~~~
sonnyblarney
"It's always blowing my mind that smart/rich people invest time/energy/money
in such useless ventures"

Consider that they are trying to make money, and from that premise, they are
not 'useless ventures'.

All food products are commodities: even cola, energy drinks.

Coca Cola, RedBull are by far and away brands more than they are 'good
products'.

Evian water sells for 30% more than unbranded water, that's the power of
brand.

From a certain perspective, of course it's useless, because it's just branded
water obviously, it's in a way offensive to our sensibilities ... but it's
smart.

The brand is pretty good. It's a little risky but it almost makes sense.

In restaurants, they charge you more for branded water, and they make you feel
like a dolt for drinking 'tap water'. They make a lot of money selling it.

This is the 'bar' equivalent: you can drink 'tap water' like a broke school
kid or have a can of 'liquid death' while your bros drink up. Then you don't
look like 'sissy' (or choose your own term if that offends the sensibilities).
Obviously it's ridiculous, but that's what consumerism is.

I saw this in the news yesterday and immediately flagged it to my marketing
friends. It's not a stupid idea.

~~~
Retra
So you're saying if I can make money doing something, then it is both ethical
and smart?

~~~
sonnyblarney
I didn't say that.

We all agree it's kind of dumb, pragmatically.

Mostly what I'm trying to do is convey to some commenters here what seems to
be a common lack of understanding in tech (maybe a good thing) as to how and
why people buy goods and services.

When one understand this, one understands why it's a 'good' business plan.

Also - we - all of us - are woefully unaware of how poignant and powerful all
of this is. It works on all of us and 100% of the consumer goods we buy - and
even many 'tech goods' are brand and aspirationaly oriented.

Tech is full of ridiculous fads and memes; when I go to tech conferences we
play a game of 'count the allbirds' (shoes) as kind of a joke.

But even for actual tech products: Google, FB, Snapchat, Apple (obviously),
MS, to some extent Twitter - those are heavy brands, even if they weren't
derived from a bunch of marketing people ... 'Do No Evil' ended up being an
important lynchpin of Google branding efforts. Way way back in about the year
2000, Google was running ads on NPR and their ethos and manner was presented
ultimately as quite different than other tech companies. It was part of their
messaging, however authentic.

So - no, I would not want to do this business, I would not want to support it,
and I hope I never buy this ridiculous water. But I know my snowboarding
brother and his friends will ...

~~~
Retra
If you start with the assumption that 100% of purchases are aspirational, it
is no surprise that you reach this conclusion. But I will seriously question
that assumption, simply because there are many other reasons to purchase a
product. The vast majority of purchases I make are decided by distribution,
not marketing. You seem to be measuring things in such a way as to never see
the difference.

------
kevinventullo
Reminds me of [http://www.mtv.com/news/1887953/monster-tour-
water/](http://www.mtv.com/news/1887953/monster-tour-water/), which X-games
athletes use as well.

------
peterwwillis
Props to the author for trying to generate clicks through false controversy,
but the attempt falls flat. They keep mentioning how this product is a form of
toxic masculinity or part of a boys' club, even comparing it to other products
clearly marketed to men. But _this_ product is only marketed to straight-edge
punk or metal people, which is not in any way exclusively male. I'm kind of
embarrassed for the author, as what they're implying (only men can be
straight-edge or punk) is so obviously sexist. I actually know more women than
men that are into skulls and death imagery, and more women who don't drink or
smoke.

~~~
theandrewbailey
100% agreed. The author doesn't even provide direct examples of this product's
ads or marketing materials.

------
Kaotique
Why is this weird? You can buy water in glass bottles, plastic bottles and
paper containers around the world. Why not in a can with a cool logo/slogan?

~~~
antihero
Because what sort of weird thing do you have to have going on in your brain
that you want your water to be edgy / cringey?

Plus you can't re-seal cans.

~~~
simonh
On the other hand if they're going to drink a can of something, it might as
well be plain water. Much healthier and more environmentally friendly than
pretty much anything else you could put in it.

~~~
antihero
I mean beer is slowly killing us so is technically pretty good for the
environment.

------
daemin
To figure back in High School I did a business project for selling "Dehydrated
Water". I guess I was about 20 years too early...

~~~
simonh
One of my favourite Mike Reid radio adverts - Hones John's instant Ice. Just
add water, and put it in the freezer.

------
tanilama
Too cool? I sense some judgement here. As someone who had never enjoyed
alcohol and technically a tech bro, my rejection to alcohol is nothing about
the image it presents, just I didn't like the drink. Is this weird？

~~~
siidooloo
Have you seen a picture of the product? The judgement has nothing to do with
people being teetotal. The product is marketed at people who want to look like
their drinking Some kind of ‘radical’ beer.

~~~
maxerickson
Lots of energy drinks come in similar cans, it isn't just the beers.

~~~
siidooloo
But this isn’t beer. It’s water marketed as beer. That’s the hook.

Anyway, the posters point was that they thought the tite was looking down on
non-drinkers. I think they were ust looking down on this product.

~~~
maxerickson
Right, my point is that it is probably being marketed alongside Monster and
the like more that it is being marketed alongside beer.

------
Grue3
I like how the author is mad about _water_ while canned beer which is produced
consumed in much larger quantities is totally fine. Getting beer-drinkers to
switch to water via marketing would be a huge win and it's an effort that
should be applauded.

------
modzu
Ugh.

"Private browsing detected. In order to continue browsing The Gazette in
private mode please login".

> Inspect element: delete

------
kevin_b_er
No worse than Voss, Fiji, or Mountain Valley Spring. Looks like they're going
to sell it for similar prices, too. Article title is a bit inflammatory, but
there's massively overpriced spring water out there already.

------
NickBusey
Once I got past the black screen that forces me to disable my ad block, I then
get presented with a survey I have to take in order to be able to read the
article.

No thanks.

~~~
pzmarzly
You may find BehindTheOverlay extension useful.

[https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/behindtheoverlay/l...](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/behindtheoverlay/ljipkdpcjbmhkdjjmbbaggebcednbbme)
/ [https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/behind_the_ov...](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/addon/behind_the_overlay/)

------
lykr0n
You have stuff like Voss which is water in a fancy bottle. So why not this?

~~~
ASalazarMX
Because water is cheap, easily purified and abundant. Only gullible people
(affluent or misguided) consume it as a luxury good.

~~~
sonnyblarney
You consume branded aspirational products essentially every day.

Almost all consumer products have integrated aspirational messaging that
induces you (and I mean you, me, everyone else) to pay significantly more then
we would otherwise.

Most people's clothing, for example, goes far beyond cost/utility/comfort.

The 'gullible' people are those who think they are not susceptible to this,
and don't act on these impulses.

Almost thinks they are not susceptible to marketing, and almost everyone
actually is.

~~~
ASalazarMX
Who's claiming marketing immunity? There's status signaling, and there's
gullibility. Wearing quality shoes that also look nice is worth paying extra,
but paying extra for the packaging of water indistinguishable from that of a
cheap filter is plain gullibility.

Buying designer tap water might be status signaling, but it's just because the
other gullible people consider it a status signal.

------
Simulacra
Almost like boxed water.

------
theandrewbailey
The product comes off as a little silly to me and it's probably not the best
idea, but there's no need for the writer to get all SJW about it.

~~~
sabertoothed
"no need to get all SJW about it"

I cannot express how much I detest this phrase or the similarly vile German
equivalent 'Gutmensch'. Turning the good impetus or empathy into something
negative is just evil. One should really rethink the use of the term.

Not to say the 'toxic masculinity' is not a terrible term as well since it can
easily be misunderstood as (any) masculinity being toxic -- not just
exaggerated, testosterone-overcharged masculinity.

~~~
akuchling
It can easily be "misunderstood" by people arguing in bad faith, but that's
true of any term; "toxic masculinity" remains a useful phrase for referring to
a particular set of beliefs and behaviours.

~~~
falcolas
As is "Social Justice Warrior". Both terms were created to identify certain
behaviors and categorize them in a negative light. You can't praise one while
condemning the other.

