Review of Amy Vicker's "Putting a Cap on the Bottled Water Industry"

Nestle Waters: “Bottle Chugging Out-of-staters”
In her article, “Putting a Cap on the Bottled Water Industry,” Amy Vickers pleads her case that the water of Massachusetts should be reserved for its citizens, and not for the resource-draining bottled water companies, such as Nestle Waters. She argues her point with strong diction, allusions, and reliable statistics—using ethical, logical, and emotional appeals.
At the outset of the article, Vickers creates ethos by establishing her credentials as a water conservation consultant, demonstrating that her opinion is reliable as the reader can believe she is knowledgeable about the issues with the bottled water companies, and what she asserts is inefficient use of water. Additionally, she employs terminology associated with her field, such as “aquifer,” which refers to any type of geological source of water—to convey her expertise, and therefore, reliability.
Vickers uses diction and allusions in varying emotional appeals throughout her article. She conjures anger against Nestle Waters with allusions to the company’s “cheap” baby formula which was promoted as “better than mother’s milk.” She uses diction that elicits sympathy with the citizens when she describes Nestle’s actions as “selling the water beneath their feet.” She uses specific diction in another instance which degrades and distances those who drink bottled water by calling them “bottle-chugging out-of-staters.”
Several statistics and facts are presented in this article which reaches its audience through the Aristotelian appeal, logos. She states that “70% of Sterling residents rely on Wekepeke ground water,” which shows how the people of this area need the ground water much more than Nestle does. And with this appeal, she brings up another argument, “…this is an era in which we face unprecedented global warming, increased agricultural irrigation needs, and worsening water pollution, which requires skyrocketing treatment costs…” She focuses attention on the costs of bottling water, not only monetarily, but also its “indefensible environmental costs.”
She wraps up her article with an urgent call to action: “There is no time to waste in stopping the bottled water industry from draining our most prized and irreplaceable sources of clean drinking water.” And by doing so, attempts to involve her audience in her own battle to preserve natural sources of water.