Molecule: culture-jamming as a water café?

On July 20, 2012 by Chris Sequeira With 4 Comments - Business, Sustainability

This morning I read about Molecule, a new “water-only café” that’s just opened in New York City. The café takes NYC tap water and runs it through a purifier, then sells it at the price of $2.50 per 16-ounce glass. Bring in your own container and you could get a price as low as $1. Next, add vitamins and other supplements to your water, starting at $1 per serving. Admittedly, I couldn’t help but feel amused and awed all at once as I thought: “wait a minute — is this really a criticism of bottled water, embodied as a storefront?” Culture-jamming as a water café? Practical lesson in economics? Maybe both?

Guest Jennifer Lacey wrote earlier on my blog about the popularity of bottled water across the globe, and much has been made of how bottled water is not uncommon despite its cost being orders of magnitude higher than the same volume of tap water. As of today, Arlington County is charging its residents $3.98 per 1,000 gallons for tap water. A quick query on Google gave me about $5 for a 24-pack of 16.9 fluid-ounce bottles of water, which is about 20 cents per bottle or $1.57 per gallon — more expensive than Arlington tap water by a factor 396. And yet, numerous media outlets have stormed over Molecule — partly because of the price per glass (about a factor 13 more expensive than a bottle of water), but mainly because of the sheer audacity of expecting people to buy filtered tap water as a connoisseur product. The Wall Street Journal’s headline was, “Something in the Water?,” a Village Voice blogger labeled Molecule’s site a “snake oil factory,” and the Atlantic Wire described Molecule’s product as “what you sell when people will buy anything.” Well, Atlantic Wire, it seems many of us have been happy anything-buyers for quite some time now. For instance, Pepsi and Coca-Cola revealed years ago that their Aquafina and Dasani bottled water products originate from “public reservoirs,” and the International Bottled Water Association even has a position on the labeling issue.

We know from basic economic theory that the price people are willing to pay for an item or service isn’t well-correlated with production cost. I’m also of course aware of arguments that when people buy a bottle of water, they’re essentially expressing their valuation of convenience, embodied in a particular form factor. Grabbing a bottle of water at a vending machine is a different act than hopping down to East Village to visit Molecule, but the difference isn’t as huge as some media outlets might express. Time will tell whether trendy New Yorkers line up to buy what co-owner Adam Ruhf calls “Gatorade for yogis,” but the shock and outrage at this new business venture would make even the Yes Men proud.

See also:

Photo “water drop medley” by theilr, on Flickr.

,
  • http://twitter.com/_AmyFowler_ Amy Fowler

    My first thought was ‘completely ridiculous’, but then, people *love* bottled water, and this is sort of the same thing….

    However, I presume most people, like me, buy bottled water because of convenience. They want some water they can carry around with them, and you can’t carry a tap, so what choice do you have? However when tap water’s available I choose tap water.

    But, what’s convenient about visiting a ‘cafe’ to buy what’s nothing more than purified, and glorified, water? It’s not like going out of your way to visit a great New York restaurant, and eat the best steak/sushi/doughnuts/whatever in the city. It’s bleedin’ water.

    I’m sure there will be some people out there that are stupid enough to fall for this, but I can’t see it lasting. And I hope it doesn’t. Because if it does, it pretty much proves the stupidity of the human race.

    • http://www.masterthismachine.com/ Chris Sequeira

      Hi Amy! Thanks for your comment. You make a good point about people buying bottled water for the convenience of carrying it around. But one thought sitting in the back of my mind as I wrote this post is that many drinks people buy, whether in bottles or at a cafe, are basically filtered water with flavorings (especially sugar) added. This is one of the reasons why I wondered if Molecule was really a social commentary in disguise.

    • static

      whats the difference between this business and other bottled water companies? they sell purified water for1$ up to 50oz. cheaper then anyone.. but more importantly… they are a refilling station. there is a terrible environmental impact of plastic bottlles and molecule offers a solution.. REFILL your bottles. ironically there is an article on the bottom of this page of the impact on plastic botlles… if you care about the planet and your health i think you should reconsider your thoughts about this business..

      • http://www.masterthismachine.com/ Chris Sequeira

        Static,

        Indeed, you articulate part of the point I was trying to make in my article. I don’t take a position on whether people should or should not frequent Molecule, but I do believe that Molecule is doing something similar to what other companies selling, shall we say, “water-based beverages” have been doing for years.