Canned Water: An issue of Institutional Trust and Change

Friday's business section of the New York Times provided a small article that grabbed my attention. "An Unclear Option From Pepsi: Water in a Can" discusses Pepsi's concept of providing water in an aluminum can instead of in plastic bottles. While the article focuses on the environmental reasoning behind Pepsi's concept, the responses from two individuals interviewed about their thoughts of drinking water out of a can showcased the double standards American Consumers have when it comes to institutional trust and our resistance to change.

Mrs. James, a 53 year old, was quoted in the article stating "Something like that would scare me. You see juice in a can, not water, You see water in a bottle." Hector Orantes, another individual interviewed for this article, was quoted "I need to see the contents of the water, I need to see there's nothing inside." How many things do we buy where we can't see the contents - or even fully know the contents? We can't see what's in soda cans, yet we buy them. We can't see what's in canned soup, vegetables, or fruits. We trust that the label matches the contents. I'm willing to bet, unless one does his or her own canning, one might not know what all of the ingredients are under the "ingredients" label in many canned items - whether it be drinks or food.

As consumers, we are hypocrites when we declare we have an inability to trust water in a can, yet purchase and use items daily that are in a can where we cannot see what's actually inside. Friday's quotes were intended to serve as a counter argument for Pepsi's canned water idea. However, the quotes serve a much deeper purpose by highlighting how resistant we as American Consumers are to change and how we act as hypocrites when it comes to the products we trust.