Courtesy Garry Trudeau of Doonesbury:

Coke and Pepsi bottle municipal tap water as “Dasani” and “Aquafina” and sell it to us [US consumers] at twice the cost of gasoline!

As Mr Trudeau states, this has to be one of the greatest triumphs in marketing history. What he fails to note, is that the consumer is at least as culpable, as they are the ones who are willing to spend multiple dollars per gallon for something they can generally get at less than a penny a gallon by turning on a faucet in their home.

In the end though, I can't completely fault the marketers, as ultimately it is the consumer who, either mis-lead or not by Coke or Pepsi, is making the decision to pay a thousand fold the price for the same, or a significantly similar, good.