
Selling bottled fresh air to China - chdir
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-pollution-canadian-company-vitality-air-sells-out-of-bottled-fresh-mountain-air-as-smog-levels-a6773631.html
======
vtlynch
This "article" is a great advertising win for this company. Clearly,
independent.co.uk picked this up from another site which probably originated
as sponsored content or a press release.

>The company started marketing the product in China less than two months ago,
but now that the first shipment of 500 bottles is sold out, another of 700
bottles is on its way.

500 bottles, at less than $30 bottle, in two months, in China. Thats not
impressive in the least. Proportionally we are talking about a fraction of a
fraction of a percent of the urban Chinese population, for a good sold online
that is far from "luxury" pricing.

Jesus, there are probably self-published Kindle eBooks about Sonic the
Hedgehog fanfic that have sold quicker than that.

When legitimate websites give attention to insignificant products such as
this, they are creating the trend, not reporting on it.

~~~
RickHull
Also, what defines a "bottle"? How long does it last? Are they spending $30
for a can of Perri-air that lasts 5 seconds? Is there a mask involved?

Inquiring minds want to know, and it appears this "journalist" isn't the least
bit concerned in what could be very strange details.

------
flashman
Perri-air?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiabeNR_q0U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiabeNR_q0U)

Actually, a Chinese entrepreneur started doing this in 2012:
[http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2012/09/18/china-is-now-
selling-c...](http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2012/09/18/china-is-now-selling-cans-
of-air-just-as-spaceballs-predicted)

~~~
nullpage
Having just watched Spaceballs this is the first thing that came to mind haha.

------
mmanfrin
There's an irony in shipping practically-empty bottles in trucks farting out
smog to a region buying them because of smog.

~~~
phkn1
Assuming for a minute that bottled air is a viable solution to smog, it's only
the prestige of "exotic Canadian air" that necessitates the long shipping
distance. Bottling filtered air from a relatively local source might work...
but only if your factory could generate net negative emissions.

And anyhow, to have a health impact, we're talking about large quantity
concentrators for those lug-around supplemental oxygen machines. These look
awfully small to have any impact long term:

[http://vitalityair.com/products/bottled-
goodness.html](http://vitalityair.com/products/bottled-goodness.html)

Anecdotal: I once tried purchasing a similar Oxygen can at a high-altitude ski
resort as a sort of "stamina inhaler" on a heavy powder day. A good puff would
return one's breath to normal pretty quickly, but the can ran out after a few
hours of occasional use. So, at best these can be used as an ersatz, non-
medical inhaler.

On the other hand, the market for air filters is still booming.

------
cpplinuxdude
> a restaurant in in Zhangjiagang city recently started charging patrons for
> fresh air, after owners bought air filtration machines for the establishment
> and added a surcharge to people’s bills for the operation costs.

Having lived in Mumbai for 2 and a half years, this to me actually kind of
makes sense.

Surcharging people will probably vanish once air filtration becomes more
common, or ubiquitous (I've never been, so wouldn't know).

But in Mumbai, there's really nothing like stepping off the hot and polluted
streets, into an air conditioned place with clear air.

Of course, the issue needs to be fixed at source, and this is so obvious it's
hardly worth stating. But somehow, having lived in a polluted asian city, none
of this surprises me, unfortunately.

------
riffic
Spaceballs was not supposed to be a documentary.

~~~
anonymfus
The idea is much older than Spaceballs. For example, this story was published
in 1929:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Air_Seller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Air_Seller)

------
auston
This girl was really onto something:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyrFWbGiGOc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyrFWbGiGOc)

~~~
shakil
Had to look it up, she was trolling the VC community
[http://allthingsd.com/20110401/rachel-sequoia-comes-clean-
hi...](http://allthingsd.com/20110401/rachel-sequoia-comes-clean-hippie-pitch-
was-a-prank/)

~~~
ryandrake
> “In Silicon Valley people think you can drop any idea these days and get it
> funded,” said Abhyanker. It may well be true: Share the Air got multiple
> funding and business development inquiries, he said.

Hilarious!

------
Filligree
Is this for real?

I guess it is. This is the kind of outcome that, if you read about it in a
science-fiction story, it'd break your immersion. Absolutely ridiculous,
though the company seems to have struck gold of some sort.

~~~
sp332
Oxygen bars have been around for a long time.

------
OneOneOneOne
Maybe they can burn the empty bottles?

------
mapt
No. It's not for real. These are novelty/gag gifts produced in a run of 500
bottles, and it's picked up by the Daily Mail doing an article on Those Crazy
Chinese. They advertise about 150 breaths per $30 bottle.

The notion that anyone is selling an actual air supply here to any substantial
portion of the population is sensationalist in a fairly racist manner; Like
[http://gizmodo.com/5897678/chinas-urine-boiled-eggs-are-a-
cu...](http://gizmodo.com/5897678/chinas-urine-boiled-eggs-are-a-cultural-
delicacy) , a "hot commodity" consumed by a few hundred elderly people in one
neighborhood of one city. Or the show at Wangfujing market in Beijing of
skewered, roasted scorpions & seahorses, consumed exclusively by tourists.
"Fast Food Beijing Style" \-
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1041266/Scorpion-
keb...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1041266/Scorpion-kebab--Its-
fast-food-Beijing-style---But-Olympic-visitors-stomach-it.html)

Generalizing an extremely rare cultural or entrepreneurial novelty over 1.36
billion people is somehow okay when the generalization level is "China". Not
enough people know enough about China to understand that these exoticist
stereotypes are not founded in statistics, but in a freak show / link bait
mentality.

.

Take a statement which is more true than "Chinese people buy canned air":

.

"Crazy Americans Run Out Of Vomit, Have To Purchase Fake Vomit For Social
Purposes"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_vomit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fake_vomit)

Has sold tens of thousands of units. Surprisingly, not a cultural touchstone.

.

"Americans So Oversexed They Require Penis Cage To Prevent Erections"

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chastity_belt_(BDSM)#Chastity_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chastity_belt_\(BDSM\)#Chastity_cages)

Big deal in BDSM subculture. Not an "American" thing, though.

.

"Americans Are Now Buying Dedicated Cars To Use From Their Superyachts"

[http://www.wired.com/2015/11/marine-mono-supercar-
superyacht...](http://www.wired.com/2015/11/marine-mono-supercar-superyacht/)

Technically true. But what does the headline _imply_?

------
dajohnson89
Has everyone given up on making the air in Beijing better?

------
jpstory
The great song by NOFX, Eat the Meek comes to mind.

The factory mass producing fear, bottled capped Distributed near and far sold
for a reasonable price The people, they love it, they feed it Brush with it,
bathe with it, breathe it Inject it direct to the blood It seems to be
replacing love

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=93cVK8Zaxss](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=93cVK8Zaxss)

------
gotchange
What's the difference between their products and the oxygen cylinders used in
hospitals?

------
bitL
Huh, how about setting up a local shop filling bottles with air from a
purifier? /s

------
aaron695
The Chinese have humor too? Not really news.

That and when a business has running costs they pass that onto customers.

Strange article.

------
xfactor973
Nobody mentioned The Lorax movie where O'Hare air sells air to the smog ridden
city. :-)

------
tenaciousJk
Spaceballs.

