Glaceau Smartwater (stylized as smartwater) is a brand of

bottled water Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., Water well, well water, distilled water, Reverse osmosis, reverse osmosis water, mineral water, or Spring (hydrology), spring water) packaged in Plastic bottle, plastic or Glass bottle, glass water bott ...

owned by

Energy Brands Energy Brands, also doing business as Glacéau, is a privately owned subsidiary of the Coca-Cola Company based in Whitestone, Queens, New York, that manufactures and distributes various lines of drinks marketed as enhanced water. Founded in May ...

, a subsidiary of

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational corporation founded in 1892. It manufactures, sells and markets soft drinks including Coca-Cola, other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, and alcoholic beverages. Its stock is lis ...

. Introduced in 1996 as Ice Mountain Spring Water and Glaceau Mineral Water in the United States, it became known as Smart Water in 1998. By 2016, it was one of the top five most sold brands of bottled water in that country with sales worth nearly $830 million in 2017. The brand is also available in other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, France, Hungary India, Malaysia, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

Product

Smartwater is manufactured by the process of

distillation Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

. This process removes most inorganic impurities, such as naturally dissolved minerals, but may let low boiling-point organic matter through. Afterwards, certain mineral

electrolytes An electrolyte is a substance that conducts electricity through the movement of ions, but not through the movement of electrons. This includes most soluble salts, acids, and bases, dissolved in a polar solvent like water. Upon dissolving, t ...

such as potassium, calcium and magnesium are added back.

Foodwatch Foodwatch is a European advocacy group that focuses on protecting consumer rights as they pertain to food quality. The organization was founded in October 2002 in Berlin by former Greenpeace executive director Thilo Bode. , the organization is a ...

describes the process as "completely useless from a nutritional point of view". The Smartwater bottle (not the water itself) is used in

ultralight backpacking Ultralight backpacking (sometimes written as UL backpacking) is a style of lightweight backpacking (wilderness), backpacking that emphasizes carrying the lightest and least amount of gear. While no technical standards exist, some hikers consider " ...

because it is relatively light, strong, and compact, compared with other disposable water bottles.

Pack and variants

Globally, the brand has several variants introduced in 2017, such as Glaceau Smartwater Sparkling Green Apple, Lemon, and Berry & Kiwi. In 2020, four new combination flavors were introduced: Cucumber Lime, Strawberry Blackberry, Pineapple Kiwi, and Watermelon Mint.

Marketing and sponsorship

Starting in 2008, American actress

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston (born February 11, 1969) is an American actress. She rose to international fame for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom ''Friends'' from 1994 to 2004, which earned her Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Scr ...

was the ambassador for the brand globally and was involved in a number of campaigns as the face of the product. She was succeeded in 2020 by Israeli actress

Gal Gadot Gal Gadot (; born 30 April 1985) is an Israeli actress. She gained recognition for portraying Wonder Woman in the DC Extended Universe films (2016–2023). In 2018, Gadot was named one of ''Time''s 100 most influential people and ranked by ''F ...

. In June 2022,

Zendaya Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman ( ; born September 1, 1996) is an American actress and singer. List of awards and nominations received by Zendaya, Her accolades include two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award. I ...

was announced as the global brand ambassador of Glaceau SmartWater and the face of its new campaign "Smart Solutions: Global Water Challenge (GWC)". The packaging featured an image of a fantail goldfish; earlier packagings featured an

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

. Smartwater was launched in India through its association with

TED Talks India Nayi Soch TED Talks India (originally known as TED Talks India Nayi Soch (Season 1) and also known as TED Talks India Nayi Baat (Season 2)) is an Indian talk show hosted by Shah Rukh Khan, that premiered on Star Plus. The slogan of the show is "Don't kill ...

as the official sponsor for property.

Criticism

In 2018, Smartwater was awarded the German ''Goldener Windbeutel'' ("Golden Windbag") anti-award by the consumer rights advocacy group

Germany for "the most brazen lie in food advertising" that year. The group said that Smartwater is "nothing but ordinary water" sold by advertising a "scientifically-sounding but completely unnecessary production process" which yields no proven nutritional benefits, for as much as seven times the price of regular water. The product also won the Dutch ''Gouden Windei'' ("Golden Windbag") prize that year.

repudiated the criticism and said that it followed all applicable food labelling regulations in a transparent manner, that Foodwatch had nominated Coca-Cola in order to attract attention to itself, and that "the success of the water with consumers proved that they liked the product for the taste."

References

{{The Coca-Cola Company Bottled water brands Coca-Cola brands