The Bottled Water Brand People Seemingly Won't Even Buy When Prepping For A Snow Storm

When we discussed a mistake you're making when buying bottled water, Coca-Cola's Dasani brand came up in an unfavorable way. Some 20 years ago, news broke that Dasani was "purified" water, as opposed to spring water ... which may, in so many words, mean that it's just glorified tap water. (And no, the colors of bottled water caps don't point to the source!) Perhaps that's the reason why, before the "Snowpocalypse" of early 2026, social media photographs showed depleted shelves of water at grocery stores alongside full bulk displays of untouched, ostensibly unwanted Dasani water.

"Death before Dasani – The Blizzard of 2026" read one Reddit headline. In another thread dedicated to grocery store HEB, a shopper reached for a lone package of water on a tall shelf while ignoring the abundant stock of Dasani to her right. "They have officially wiped out the Dasani at my store, they are now Dasani desperate," one commenter hilariously reported. "I'm surprised how Dasani is even still in business," remarked another. Further downthread, another snarker took a shot at the much-criticized contents of the bottles: "Dasani: Would [you] like some water with your plastic particles?"

Nor is the Dasani dislike confined to incoming snowstorms. In a TikTok reel, a compilation showed full shelves of Dasani reportedly depicting Florida grocery store stock before a hurricane. The hate isn't even strictly regarding natural disasters. In a comment on The Loop, it was passionately declared, "I'd drink out of a puddle on the street, before I would drink a Dasani."

Could there be another reason why Dasani sticks around while others sell out? Buried in the Reddit comments deep with folks hating on Dasani, one potential voice of reason emerged: "All these pictures is just [sic] because Coca-Cola has a massive supply chain and probably the only national water bottle brand that carries inventory that can cover emergency buying." It's a claim worth investigating.

According to Statista, Dasani controls a whopping 12% of the global bottled water market. The second bottled brand in line, Evian, is an upmarket name that probably shouldn't be considered a direct competitor. Beyond that, other bottled water brands command minuscule shares apiece. This certainly seems to point to there being a lot of Dasani on shelves. For Coca-Cola to sell a lot of Dasani, there needs to be a lot of Dasani available. Moving into sheer conjecture, it seems logical that a massive company like Coca-Cola would have both the deep pockets and infrastructure needed to quickly supply grocery stores with extra stock of Dasani on the precipice of bad weather, while other companies might struggle to fulfill demand.

Who knows, maybe folks really just loathe Dasani enough to leave it sitting like a wallflower on shelves while they panic-buy all its competitors. There's a possible logical explanation, however, and it would be silly not to at least consider it. After all, there's no bad port in a storm, and it stands to reason that, if folks are terrified of an upcoming blizzard, they would probably set aside their dislike of Dasani to get much-needed resources. Or, perhaps it's just time for consumers to look at the best alternatives to plastic water bottles.