The next step the Companies took, was an even smarter approach, to exploit people’s biases, to create new products and market them as ’Natural’. Bottled water, which exploits people’s preference for natural over artificial by making it seem more natural than the real natural, is the most successful example of this. This despite the fact that bottled water is most times not any healthier or tastier than the water filtered through your home water filter and is much costlier and also carries the considerable environmental costs of the production, transportation, and final disposition of plastic bottles. Though perhaps it is also seen as a sign of status, an example of conspicuous consumption, a way to show how much money you have, or more generally, to show off your positive traits as a person. If the water was free or had obvious health benefits, it would be useless as such a signal and then perhaps fewer people would drink it, or at least they would use a more permanent reusable bottle and carry water from home.

In blind taste tests, with waters at equal temperatures, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between clean, filtered tap water and luxury bottled water. Even, Bruce Nevins, the Founder and CEO of ‘Perrier’ North America when asked to pick out ‘Perrier’ from a selection of seven cups of water on a live show, only got it on the fifth try.

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