Consuming Two Branded Bottles

Dasani Water and L'Oréal's Satin Hairspray

Act(s) of Consuming: selected, bought, used (drank)

Product:

Dasani bottled water 591 ml

Manufactured by the Coca-Cola company

Price: $ 1.89

Price of Simialar Products (different brands):

Each of these bottled waters are approximately the same size as the Dasani bottled 

water, which is 591. However, there are disparities in how the product is branded 

            and the cost of each item. 

Fiji natural spring water $2.29

Aquifina the taste of purity $ 1.89 (Pepsi.co)

Glacéau Smart water   electrolyte enhanced water $2.29 (Coca-Cola)

Life brand - $0.79

Why I chose this brand?:  

My decision to buy the Dasani water bottle over other brands was mainly based on the fact that the bottle is made out of plant materials and is 100% recyclable. This information is displayed on the bottle itself and therefore is used to market or brand the product as environmentally friendly or “green.” The use of the colour green on the bottle’s cap and label also drew my attention to this product. The colour green often signifies whether or not a product is “green,” in other words if it is environmentally freiendly. As someone who is concerned about the environemnt I often notice and select “green” products over others. It is also interesting to note that most prominent in the bottle's design is the brand name (Dasani), and the aspects that draw attention to the bottle’s “environmental friendliness”. Information about what type of water it is (non-carbonated), how the water is processed and the ingredients in the water, on the other hand, appear in fine print

 I also noted two other things about this choice that was particularly interesting for me. First of all, I had not noticed the price of the product was higher than the Life brand water. This suggests that I am less concerned about the price of the product than whether it is “green.” In fact, although I now realize how much more I am paying for the product, which is more than a dollar a bottle, I will likely still purchase this product over others. Secondly, I was also interested to find out that Dasani is manufactured by the Coca-cola company. Due to my knowledge about the human rights issues surrounding Coca Cola I  generally tend to avoid buying their products. It was interesting for me to note that I have been purchasing a Coca-Cola product unknowingly.

  Another factor that may also have influenced my decision to buy this product was how it was displayed on the shelf. This brand of bottled water was displayed in the middle of the fridge, just below eye level. There were also more of this product on the shelf than some of the other products. While there were at least six rows of Dasani water bottles, Fiji only had three rows. It is likely that these factors had an influence on my decision because, admittedly, I do not often notice items on the lower and higher shelves or when fewer of the items are displayed.

Limitations on choice?:

  It is certainly true that I had a choice in whether or not to purchase the Dasani water bottle. For starters, I could have chosen, as I often do, to bring my own refillable water bottle from home or to just drink from a tap. So why did I not make these decisions? I had bought this bottled water while shopping for other things at shoppers drug mart. At this time I had not brought my refillable bottle and there are no water fountains or taps avialable to the public within the store. Furthermore, “no name” or unbranded water bottles were not avaliable. However, having thought about this I could have made the decision to go to the McDonalds next store and ask them for a cup of tap water. That being said they may have tried to sell me their own bottled water or the cup they gave me would have had their own brand on it. So it appears that it was difficult for me not to buy a bottle of water or other branded product in order to have a drink at this time.

  Another thing that may be said to have limited my choice of which water to buy is that a number of different brands of water bottles are owned by the same corporation. Coca-cola, for instance, manufactures Dasani, yet the company Glacéau, which makes smart water, is also a Coca-Cola subsidary (Energy Brand, 2013; Coca-ColaCompany). In my research I also discovered that Nestlé has over 64 brands of water bottles (Nestle). From these facts it therefore appears that which company you chose to buy from is also limited as certain monopolies own multiple brands. 

 Act(s) of consuming: selected, bought

Product: L’oréal Paris Elnett Satin Hairspray Strong Hold 250 ml

Price: $11.99 regular, $6.99 sale

Price of Simialar Products (different brands):

Göt 2b Hairsprays Assorted Variety (Henkel –Schwarzkopf) $8.49

Gosh Hairsprays Assorted Variety $9.99 regular $7.99 sale

Joico Structure Finish Instant Hold Hairspray $19.99

Why I chose this brand?:

  My intital decision to chose this brand was because I had heard it was a good product to use from friends. However, the fact that it is a bit more expensive than some of the lower end products also influenced my decision. I do not use hairspray often and have little money to spend on beauty products. At the same time, however, I do often associate more expensive products with better quality. Since the products regular price is more expensive than some of the other brands (Göt 2b at 8.49) I expected it to have a better fragrance, lighter formula and to old the style better. I would expect, perhaps wrongly, that the Joico hairspray would have even better quality but would not ,and cannot, spend this much money on a beauty product. Therefore, price had a lot to do with my decision to buy this product.

  In addition to the price, the product is also branded in a way that suggests it is of higher quality. For starters, its name “Elnett Satin” suggests that it is of higher quality because satin is an expensive fabric and I, as I am sure others do, associate this fabric with people who are of a higher class or have more money. Similarly the bottle is also coloured gold and gold is also worth more money than say silver or bronze. There is also an image of a women who appears young and elegant, with long, fancy earrings on and a serious expression on her face. All of these factors, therefore, market this hairspray as “finer” or as something that belongs to people of a higher class. The product is also marketed to people who are still young but who are older than say the targets of Göt 2b products. In contrast to Elnett Satin, the Göt 2b products feature darker colours, such as black and silver, as well as what could be described as “funky” lettering and designs. These products also feature slang words such as “rockin,” which are used more often by younger people. These products, therefore, would appeal to someone who is younger or who wishes to stand out.  From this discussion of the branding of Elnett Satin I would conclude that one of the reasons I believed this product to be of better quality is because it is branded in a way to suggest this and this lead to my decision to consume this product over others. 

Limitations on choice?:

According to the internet there are ways of making a do-it-yourself hairspray. Who knew? Futhremore, the ingredients for some of these recipes are quite cheap and could likely be bought "no name", such as lemons (Huffstetler). However, I personally would not likely spend the time making hairspray and do not trust the quality of a “homemade” hairspray over a store bought one. Yet, it does seem that I did have a reasonable choice in using a non-branded product instead of purchasing the L’Oréal Paris hairspray.

  Moreover, although most of the companies who had hairspray also made other beauty products most of these companies do not seem to have more than one hairspray brand. So in contrast to bottled water where some monopolies own many brands, it seems that there are many hairspray brands to chose from.

  I would like to point out, however, that my decision to buy one product may have been limited because of how each product is branded. In other words, if I wish to express a certain image or identity I may feel that I “must” buy certain products over others. In this instance, for example, if I wished people to see me as a higher class woman I am more likely to buy Elnett than Göt 2b, a product that would suggest I am a unique or radical teenager.

Works Cited

Coca-Cola Comapany. Brands. Retrieved from  http://www.coca-colacompany.com/brands/the-coca-cola-company.

Energy Brands (2013, February, 13). Wikipedia. Retreived from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_Brands.

Huffstetler, E. n.d. How to Make Your Own Hairspray. Retrieved from http://frugalliving.about.com/od/beautyhealthcare/ht/Hair_Spray.htm.

Nestle Waters The Healthy Hydration Company. Our Brands. Retreived from http://www.nestle-waters.com/brands#.USfGOKWRjww.

L’Oréal Paris. Our Brands. Retreived from http://www.en.loreal.ca/_en/_ca/index.aspx.

Pepsico Canada. Brands. Retrieved from: http://www.pepsico.ca/en/Brands.html.