Company puts faith in spiritual water

[Pale Blue Dot]

The instructions are simple: Read the Prayer ... Drink the Water ... Believe in God! Believe in Yourself!

Spiritual Water, the faith-inspired venture of two Sunrise, Fla., businessmen, offers its drinkers clearer focus, positive thinking and connection to a higher power.

The 11 bottles in the company's collection bear prayers and impressively detailed images of Jesus Christ, St. Michael and the Virgin Mary. Spiritual Water joins a broad slice of feel-good products -- Testamint, Bible Gum and other bottled waters -- emerging at the intersection of religion and commerce, entrepreneurship and pop culture.

"There is a great history of people using religious images to sell products," says Daniel Sack, an administrator at the University of Chicago Divinity School and author of "Whitebread Protestants: Food and Religion in American Culture." "You are talking about combining the great American traditions of religion and consumption."

Last fall, Elicko Taieb launched Spiritual Water as a way to inspire Protestants and Catholics. The water, purified from a municipal source in Santa Ana, Calif., is not available in stores, but Taieb says independent distributors sell about 2,000 to 3,000 cases a month.

"Church is on Sundays, but people need something to help them through the week," says Taieb, 33 and CEO of the company. "... The whole idea is for people to feel better and to know God is with them."

http://www.charlotte.com/business/story/614873.html

:eyes:

[realisticphish]

1. haha

"purified from a municipal source in Santa Ana, Ca."

So, in other words, they put tap water into bottles and slap jesus on them.

TBH, that's fucking brilliant. I mean, people already pay for regular bottled water, if they pay a little more for this who's to stop them?

[TZ]

2. Hmm I'd quote PT Barnum here...

but I think wooflation has made it now into there is a sucker born every SECOND....

[lizerdbits]

3. Bwaaahaaa!

Taieb, who spent several years in the pest-control business, had been thinking about a faith-based venture for more than a decade. He looked at several products through which to deliver his message of spiritual enrichment.

(He looked at several ways to make a shitload off gullible wingnuts...)

[onager]

4. What I learned from a water engineer (in California)

The engineer worked for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. ("Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.")

He said American tap water, in any given city, is regulated much more stringently than all those "healthy" bottled waters.

That's because tap water is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), while bottled water comes under the Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

I should also mention that this was pre-Bush II, so I'm not sure it is still true.

edit: I just noticed this theological gem at the end of the OP:

"Church is on Sundays, but people need something to help them through the week," says Taieb, 33 and CEO of the company. "...The whole idea is for people to feel better and to know God is with them."

I thought prayer was supposed to take care of that.

[Orrex]

5. I recently heard something similar on NPR

Additionally, there's some ridiculously small number of FDA personnel available to oversee the regulation of bottled water. Somewhere on the order of a few people per state, or something. I'm looking for the story on NPR.org, but I haven't found it.

[TZ]

7. Well since a lot of these bottle waters (including this one)

are merely filtered tap water (hello Dasani et al)...I don't think its all that big of a job......:)

[Orrex]

6. Does it turn to wine at some point?

If so, then sign me up!