Coca-Cola says no to H2O
Ok, this is not really news, and I’m not even sure if it’s true, but it sounds all too plausible. Coca-Cola had a campaign in 2001 for teaching restaurants how not to give (free) tap water to consumers. While it is obviously in the best interest of both the Coca-Cola company and the restaurant to sell as many drinks as possible, the weasel language is what makes it funny:
Water. It’s necessary to sustain life, but to many Casual Dining restaurant chains it contributes to a dull dining experience for the customer. Many customers choose tap water not because they enjoy it, but because it is what they always have drunk in the past. In response, some restaurant chains are implementing programs to help train crews to sell alternative choices to tap water, like soft drinks and noncarbonated beverages, with the goal of increasing overall guest satisfaction. Because of its own successful campaign against water, the Olive Garden has recently sent a powerful message to the entire restaurant industry — less water and more beverage choices mean happier customers.
See the screenshots from Coca-Cola’s website. It seems they took the page down after getting too much attention, so I can’t verify their accuracy.