Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage company, has just won an award from Consumers International (an international consumer group with 220 member organizations) for its Dasani brand of water.  The award given is the “Bad Drinks Marketing’ award, for trying to sell off Dasani as anything other than the bottled municipal tap water that it is.

Dasani’s packaging includes marketing messages like:

‘Filtered for purity using state of the art processes’ and ‘enhanced with a special blend of minerals for a pure, crisp, fresh taste’

I first covered this in my Bottled Water Packaging Comparison a while back, and since then have also learned that in 2004 Coca-Cola had to stop selling Dasani in the UK because of the public outcry over selling municipal tap water back to people.

The question is, when will these companies understand that honesty is the best policy - even in your marketing message?  With the growth of the internet and social networking sites, it has never been easier to shed light on truth, and quickly send public relations professionals scampering for a patch-up of public opinion.

But hey, it isn’t right to just point out Dasani, so here are some of the other winners of the awards:

Kellogg’s - ‘Bad Food’ Award - for advertising junk food to kids.

Mattel - ‘Bad Toys’ Award - for selling toys with lead paint that had to be recalled.

Takeda Pharmaceuticals - ‘Bad Drug Promotion’ Award - for advertising sleeping pills to children.