Opinion: Ordinary Things That Come in Expensive Packaging

As I type this, I am drinking a glass of something called "Lemon Raspberry Italian Sparkling Mineral Water". It comes in a graceful looking glass bottle with graphics of raspberries, lemons, and bubbles that all together seem to say, 'ah, how refreshing.' Even the fizzy popping noises it makes in my glass sounds cool and leisurely, and I imagine that I have been transported to a cafe on the cobblestoned streets of Italia.

But really it's no more than bottled water with a fizz and a funny after taste. I'm not even a fan of carbonated drinks. Yet, I fell for this bit of effective advertising, and on some level I admit to feeling more refreshed and, somehow, more European as well. It makes me think about how easy it is to dress up ordinary things to be more grand and exciting than they really are (with the help of an active imagination on the part of the target consumer). People are like this too. We amass our status symbols and other materialistic desires to create our own grand and exciting (albeit cliche) brands. We all fall for it. Do we feel more refreshed? Maybe more European?

Its just water and air. The rest is all human imagination, which can be very enjoyable indeed.