FIJI’s Junta Friendly Green Water
I find it almost laughable that FIJI is branding itself as a green bottled water solution when in fact it is the poster child for all that is wrong with bottled water from an environmental standpoint. Not only is the product shipped halfway across the globe, but it’s bottled on an island that does not have a ready source of safe drinking water for its own citizens where water rationing and water related typhoid outbreaks are fairly common, and it’s bottled in a diesel fueled plant! FIJI has always been the Hollywood-chic water of choice (and now Washington DC-chic). You have to respect their marketing, but to say they are green is ridiculous.
Regardless of how many “carbon offsets” they buy, it is still beyond silly to bottle water in a small isolated island, water challenged island (in a diesel fueled plant), put it on a ship, lug it across the globe, truck it across the US, and pour it into your glass (or mouth). There is no way that can be a green solution when tap water (or even local spring water if you insist) is readily available within a few hundred feet. Great marketing can make it chic, but nothing can make it green.
For a fascinating story about Fiji, read the full Mother Jones article mentioned below – Mother Jones – http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/fiji-spin-bottle
Fiji Water: The Earth-Friendly Choice for Military Juntas Everywhere
by David Friedlander, New York City 
on 08.15.09
Image from Beverage World
A recent exposé in Mother Jones called “Fiji Water: Spin the Bottle” confirmed my common sense notion that drinking bottled water shipped from the South Pacific is a silly and wasteful idea. It also added myriad other reasons to not to drink Fiji Water.
Junta-Aid
Fiji has had 4 military coups in the last 25 years. The government du jour is lead by Commander (and now prime minister) Frank Bainimarama and President Ratu Josefa Iloilo. Because of a ruling last spring declaring the current government illegitimate, Iloilo suspended their constitution, appointed himself president and declared there wouldn’t be elections until 2014. This totalitarian approach to government recently earned Fiji an expulsion from the Pacific Island Forum, an inter-governmental organization that represents the many independent island nations in the Pacific.
The author of the article Anna Lenzer was in the country when martial law was declared and was the subject of police intimidation. Amnesty International reports of Fijian freedoms, “there is a very strong military and police presence….[and there] is a constant and intimidating reminder that the new military regime will not tolerate dissent and will follow through on the warnings it has issued to critics."
In a response to Lenzer’s article, the Fiji Water website claims of their relation to the recent political turmoil:
We bought FIJI Water in November 2004, when Fiji was governed by a democratically elected government. We cannot and will not speak for the government, but we will not back down from our commitment to the people, development, and communities of Fiji.
Besides conveniently sidestepping the specious circumstances that this “democratically elected government” came into power (i.e. through a 2000 coup), the company not speaking out about recent activity by Iloili et al appears like a self-preservationist strategy for a company that enjoys tax-free status.
In a rebuttal to the response to her article, Lenzer notes the contradiction between the company’s touts of being a socially progressive company and its “no comment” policy on the junta’s recent crackdown. She makes a good point saying:
It’s worth remembering that there aren’t very many countries ruled by military juntas today, and Americans prefer not to do business with those that are. We don’t import Burma Water or Libya Water.
Purest Product Placements on the Planet
Behind the Fiji Water empire is a California couple named Lynda and Stewart Resnick, who bought the company in 2004 from a Canadian mining and real estate mogul named David Gilmour (no, he didn’t play for Pink Floyd). The Resnicks are the same folks who convinced Americans they couldn’t live without POM Wonderful brand pomegranate juice.
Image by Mother Jones
The Resnicks have successfully insinuated the FIJI Water brand (the capitalized name is trademarked) onto countless aspirational tabletops—from Obama to Paris Hilton to Mary J. Blige (who demands 10 1.5-liter bottles of room-temp Fiji Water before shows)—and events like the Emmys, the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, and Justin Timberlake’s "Summer Love" tour. The chef Nobu Matsuhisa once stated in a cooking instruction that, "Each piece of lobster sashimi should be dipped into Fiji Water seven to ten times." Would Dasani destroy the integrity of the meat?
Fiji Water Will Solve Global Warming
Through their Fiji Green campaign , the company claims their water is 120% carbon offset. They achieve carbon negativity through channels like purchasing carbon offsets, a plan to have 50% renewable energy at their bottling plant and other measures.
Their enthusiasm for saving the planet is so great that Fiji Water’s former senior VP of sustainable growth Thomas Mooney said in a 2007 Huffington Post article, “We’d be happy if anyone chose to drink nothing but Fiji Water as a means to keep the sea levels down.” Yikes!
In a previous TreeHugger article, Michael Brune of the Rainforest Action Network stated it as plain as possible about Fiji water and all bottled water: “Bottled water is a business that is fundamentally, inherently and inalterably unconscionable. No side deals to protect forests or combat global warming can offset that reality.”
The difficulty Fiji Water and many other greenwashers is they believe their own rhetoric. With Fiji Water, there seems to be a sacrosanct idea that bottled water is essential. It is not.
Lynda Resnick has stated that Fiji Water’s main competitor—i.e. tap water—is “not a real or viable alternative,” and that we “can no longer trust public or private water supplies” (why not sell water filtration systems in that case?). This delusional thinking, where market-driven motivation is confused with common sense creates a powerful message. No wonder it’s the best selling water in America.
August 21, 2009 at 10:28 pmfiji-water
link | my site | registered
As President of FIJI Water, I encourage readers to read our response to the article, which we have posted on our blog: http://blog.fijigreen.com/2009/08/fiji-water-responds-to-mother-jones-article/ I also encourage readers to post any questions they might have on our blog, where all reasonable queries will be responded to by employee representatives.
We strongly disagree with the author’s premise that because we are in business in Fiji that somehow legitimizes a military dictatorship. We bought FIJI Water in November 2004, when Fiji was governed by a democratically elected government. FIJI Water does not nor will ever actively support the government of the day. The government does not speak for us and we cannot and will not speak for the government. What we can do is try to help the socio-economic development of Fiji as much as we can by running a world-class company that provides much-needed jobs, health care, education, and clean drinking water to the people who live in the villages surrounding our company and the greater community of Fiji.
John Cochran
President, FIJI Water
August 24, 2009 at 2:57 pmcasey
link | my site | author
For Mother Jones’ rebuttal to FIJI’s argument on this point, click link.