Further fieldwork: A focus group about water

A great way of finding out what people think about anything is by leading a focus groups, or group interviews. As a public relations major, I know that good common ideas and useful information will come about from my spending one afternoon with a few focus group members. 

Last month, I sat down to brainstorm ideas about tap water and bottled water with a group of about 7 volunteers, only one of whom I'd previously known. As organizations like Tappening represent anti-bottled water causes, I wondered how effective these organizations might be in promoting the cause. Maybe the Nestle Waters giant is unstoppable.

Conducting the Focus Group

In the focus group I did - my first ever - I had about 7 Boston University students volunteer to participate for one hour. Luckily, these volunteers had moved to Boston from different regions of the U.S., allowing me a better random sample of the public that I might try to understand.

My hour-long focus group included questions about the respondents’ general views about buying bottled water and using tap water, their opinions about brand loyalty and bottled water brand advertising and their priorities about health and environmental issues. Respondents were even describing the particular bottled water brands they find most appealing - amazingly, Poland Spring and smartwater emerged as frontrunners. I couldn't exactly pinpoint why the focus members preferred these brands, but they did... I guessed Poland Spring from good branding and habit, and smartwater from its trendiness factor. But I pushed some more. It didn't seem like these volunteers were completely loyal to drinking bottled water, or to any bottled water brand at all.

I collected a good amount of  info about consumer preferences and habits, and I received much input from the respondents about how tap or bottled water can be made more or less appealing. Learning from one another and inspiring each others’ ideas, the focus group

members developed pretty honest opinions about the bottled water industry, tap water and overall water safety. They said tap water was dirty, but rather preferred the tacky words like "crisp" and "refreshing" that every Dasani or Deer Park ad tries to engrain in our opinions- apparently, not in vain. Yes, price was important to these volunteers, but trendiness was more important. Group opinion, overall, was really important. The respondents seemed to want to show consumer responsibility to one another and rationality for shotty marketing techniques... but they were caught. They criticized Jennifer Aniston's
smartwater ads, but you better believe they all recalled the ads without my having them there that day. You better believe most of the volunteers had bought smartwater at some point. 

Celebrities and trends definitely do act to pull consumers into buying bottled water. Remember the days when drinking Evian bottled water was shi shi and only for celebrities in 90210? In less than a decade, Evian's gone proletariate... but the celebrities lead the packs in this industry.

Notable Findings

During my one hour, I heard a great amount of evidence that some consumers do also choose bottled water products based on habit or from familiarity. If one individual’s parents often bought Poland Spring bottled water, that individual tended to report buying Poland Spring when away from her parents. Participants also tended to buy bottled water if their peers and families have had the habits of buying bottled water in past years. Likewise, if the volunteers had grown up drinking tap water, they later continued to drink tap water and Brita-filtered tap water.

Those in the focus group recalled multiple bottled water advertisements in the media; this was evidence, too, that consumers have a high exposure to bottled water companies’ marketing ploys. Some participants, though, recalled campaigns supporting environmentalist and health campaigns concerning bottled and tap water. This was evidence that the public may be primed with some information about the controversies pertaining to water products, like environmental issues. The one friend I had in the focus group, however, was the only one who knew about BPA as a health risk. I wonder how. Drinking bottled water poses health risks too, people!

Suggestions for the Future

If anyone out there would like to piggyback off my initial focus group endeavor, it could be helpful to conduct more focus groups about some of the more pointed issues we talked about in this first focus group. While recycling habits was only one topic we discussed here, you might conduct a future session strictly about respondents’ knowledge about recycling and environmental effects; this might help ad or pr buffs learn more about how pro-environment claims persuade consumers. Tappening could especially use this advice, my god. Please refer to their horribly elementary and overall ineffective ad campaign. Good for a laugh, not good for cause mobilization.

Similarly, you might conduct a future focus group only about the health concerns entailed with drinking tap or bottled water. The respondents might find differences in the information they have heard reported in the media, and researchers can learn which persuasion tactics have might already affected publics to prefer or avoid tap or bottled water.

We need to know what people know. At times during this focus group, I was shocked to be reminded how normal consumers still think. Jennifer Aniston sells. And to rebuttal, measly NGOs and organizations create ads with cartoons of crying polar bears. Ineffective. I'm ashamed.

Water Survey

I wanted to know what people know

On September 23 through 25, I officially surveyed five of my college-age compadres to understand their knowledge of plastic water bottle waste, tap water safety, and other water-related topics. I asked each of these individuals, none of whom knew one another or attended the same school, the same list of open-ended questions. The survey results yielded what I had anticipated: a wide spectrum of knowledge about safe water materials and products. All names have been changed to preserve anonymity from the public. 

For my initial question I asked, “What comes to mind when you think of ‘pro-safe water activism?’” Most interviewees showed embarrassment for not recognizing this phrase, perhaps from a campaign or political movement. I had, however, invented this wording to find what imagery they conceived when thinking about water issues. Daisy, currently living in Ann Arbor, MI, imagined the elimination of tap water chemicals harming human health. Holden, of St. Clair Shores, MI, instead envisioned shoreline cleanups and the decontamination of drinkable water. Osmosis Jones, of Chesterfield, MI, also imagined the cleaning water for health and environmental purposes. Hanni, of Boston, MA, admitted that the phrase prompted her to imagine giving bottled water to young African children.

When I asked the interviewees to compare their tap water use to their bottled water consumption, most interviewees responded with some criticism for bottled water but admitted to drinking some bottled water. Hanni claimed bottled water companies “scam” customers by consuming global resources like oil and overcharging for their products, but she drinks bottled water when someone else conveniently buys or gives her the bottle. Osmosis Jones also admitted to the convenience of buying bottled water, especially when he loses old bottles by forgetting to bring them home to refill. Paige, who is studying in Israel these days, said she thinks we should be refilling our plastic bottles more often with tap water. Daisy, countering Paige’s statement, brought up research that reusing plastics, especially if the material had been heated, could cause negative health effects. She also claimed that much bottled water is simply bottled tap water, with no additional purification. Daisy drinks mostly tap water.

Holden claimed that tap water is too often dangerous for human consumption. He, along with three others, expressed concerns for many U.S. regions’ inadequate environmental protections and standards. Daisy claimed that politics have caused regions’ incompliance with clean water standards or their inabilities to meet them. Holden and Osmosis Jones sited the issue of prescription drugs entering tap water supplies. They both explain their knowledge that the public lacks education about recycled water and cities’ constant recycling of the same water. As Osmosis Jones said, “Our tap water comes from other peoples’ poop water. Which is gross. So they treat it with chlorine, which is also gross.” Hanni also mentioned the chlorine and fluoride that municipalities pump into water to clean it. Four of these five interviewees had learned the same facts about how local tap water is reused and treated.

The interviewees differed, however, on the extents to which they recycled in their respective cities. Daisy, Hanni and Osmosis Jones spoke about recycling in convenient locations. Ann Arbor provides students with recycle bins and collects them each week. Hanni seeks locations on campus to recycle before she leaves, as her off-campus home has no recycling service. Osmosis Jones, without any recycling service in his new condominium complex, now recycles less than he had when he had a city recycling service. Holden, however, drives to facilities to recycle #5 plastics, which his city will not collect. All interviewees wanted to recycle plastics and other products, including glass, office paper, cardboard, cans, etc. Only one interviewee made extra efforts to recycle materials that no city recycling service was collecting.

While all of the interviewees did show concern for bottled water’s environmental effects, most did site health risks caused by tap, but not bottled, water. Holden, Osmosis Jones, and Daisy, when discussing the risks of ingesting water, only worried about contaminated, inadequately purified tap water. Hanni was the only interviewee who cited research that bottled water can cause health issues among consumers. Paige was the only one who did not believe tap or bottled water proposed health risks. Overall, the interviewees’ explanations of health risks were more vague or inaccurate than their responses about environmental issues.

When I asked the interviewees to compare their priorities for personal health and environmental protection against one another, most interviewees agreed that they prioritize health issues above environmental issues. Paige said she does not pay attention to these risks. Holden explained, however, that consumers may increasingly take environmental risks into considerations when making decisions about their health. A few years ago, he explained, the production of Albuterol inhalers was discontinued because of the dangerous chlorofluorocarbons in the medication’s propellant. Consumers began taking different medications altogether without causing a large outcry to continue using Albuterol. Though consumers prioritize health issues, they increasingly prioritize environmental preservation, as well.

Overall, the interviewees were either well-informed or completely carefree about both health and environmental risks associated water. Most were skeptical about tap water’s safety to the body while trusting bottled water more. They did, however, accurately site more information about bottled water’s harm to the environment. While the interviewees claimed they prioritized personal health over environmental protection, begging the anticipation that they would avoid the tap and choose bottled water instead, about half the interviewees still found means to self-filter their water and appease both concerns. When too inconvenienced to recycle or filter their own water, however, most of those interviewed would rather just drink bottled water.

Other great comments I couldn’t edit and keep the full value of

It's ridiculous to me that we're living in The Great Lakes State, but we won't life a finger or spend a penny to preserve our namesake.

I’ll fill in what I know. I know there was some BPAs leech into the water which is bad for you thing. Also, obviously, plastics consume oils or whatever in the making…

In our buildings, there are separate bins for trash, for bottles, and for paper. In Ann Arbor, given that the city makes it so easy, it does bother me when people don’t recycle.

Then there was the whole news sensationalism OMG PRESCRIPTION DRUGS IN YOUR WATER!? Honestly, though, I think its all a crock of crap.

While [landfills are] a bit sickening when I consider, I don’t think about them much.

As a selfish human being, I think about how what I do directly affects my health more so than the environment.

We are too wasteful in general and our consumerism only makes matters worse. Not only do companies need to cut down on unnecessary packaging, but we need to cut back on shopping.

[Problems about tap water include] contamination of reservoirs with E.Coli, etc. forcing boil orders or bans. Also, the adding of chemicals to the water either to clean the water (chlorine) or to use it as a mass vitamin dispenser (fluoride). Both of which can be hazardous to some of the population, especially in excess. (I don't know if this is still an actual problem, but it's definitely still a perceived one)

I HATE it when people don't recycle, especially when there's a bin right there.

I consume a toxin. I get sick maybe 3 weeks later. Yikes. I throw 7 water bottles out a week. I dont ever notice any effect from my actions alone, but they have a combined effect we tend to overlook I think.

As far as buying a product that helps me but might even harm the environment, it’s really a case-by-case judgment call. Is it wrinkle cream? If it is, does killing a blade of grass for every 10000 cases make it worth it? Maybe. Does killing a tree for every 10000 cases make it worth it? Maybe not. But lets say its a cancer drug. Now would it be worth it if it killed 10 trees for every case? Maybe. Its really a tough call.