Sigg Water Bottles

In the wake of the plastic industry's worries and scrambling over the leaching of chemicals into water in many plastic bottles, including Nalgene's well-known bottles, that contained Bisephenol-A (BPA), one product that has been around for quite a long time has become much more popular. This is Sigg's aluminum liquid storage bottles.

Sigg bottles have been famous with "heavy duty" campers, backpackers, and climbers for many years and are becoming more popular with people due to worries about BPA. They are made from aluminum, but before you worry about links to Alzheimer's Disease worries, these have a special lining in them that is practically unbreakable, much like the bottles themselves. These bottles are superlight, typically have really attractive graphics, and have no discernable tastes that leak to the beverages stored within. This last one is a big issue as too many people are complaining about new BPA-free bottles and their problems of having a "plasticky" taste leach into the water, ruining the flavor.

These bottles are really durable, a great product, but a little more expensive than their plastic counterparts. A 1-liter bottle will cost around $19-22, typically. These are so durable that they might be the last bottles you'll ever need, so a one-time cost will afford you years of usage! There's many different interchangeable tops as well that turn it into a water bottle with a drinking cap, lid with a loop for connecting to bags and such, and other lids. These are a great product that are finally coming to the more acclaim they've deserved for years. They're a fashion statement, a health concern statement, and a great product all in one!

McDonald's "Espresso"

McDonald's new commercials advertising their new espresso offerings have struck me as pretty insulting to anyone who frequents coffee shops, Starbucks, and anywhere else that offers espresso that isn't McDonald's. People that visit other coffee shops are painted as pretentious and fake. They're also depicted as not wanting to be that way and having to put on a front for their other friends as a show. It seems they're insulting people, then asking them to come to McDonald's to be themselves. I find it hard to imagine that a good marketing strategy is to insult those you are intending to woo and then tell them that they should come to your business. I am not the biggest coffee house fanatic, though I do love coffee, but I tend to get a drip coffee over espresso, most days. It seems like this strategy can't be working too well as McDonald's has started up their free espresso Fridays again, so it seems like people didn't just get the first taste and fall in love with their coffee or their "laid-back" atmosphere. It's true that Starbucks has been feeling the brunt of a slowing economy, but that is a far different thing from calling people fake and pretentious. These ads aren't appealing to just price, they're biting the hand they want to feed them...