Mollywatr: New water company touts a drug name

When the lights are flashing in rainbow streams across a club and your heart is thumping to music, staying hydrated may not be the first thing on your mind. In fact, the only thing on your mind may be trying to dance on one foot and not fall over.

A new company called Mollywatr, named after another name for the drug Ecstasy commonly associated with raves, is hoping to change that.

Mollywatr, a company founded by Ken Unaeze, is attempting to use the name Molly to attract EDM (electronic dance music) fans to its product. The idea for the water came to him one day while sitting in a cubicle working at Career Builder.

“I thought, is there a water product that is marketing to this scene, and is communicating some important messages about water to this scene?� said Unaeze. “There wasn’t, and you know, I wanted to come up with a name that really struck a chord and spoke to this scene in a way that would make water as important to these people as it actually is.�

The water is marketed on its Facebook page as an “uncut natural spring water with natural electrolytes. The perfect complement for your EDM experience.� Because when you reach for a bottle of water, of course you’ll want it to be “uncut.�

According to Unaeze, the water comes from a natural source in California, but he isn’t revealing much more than that.

“I’m just telling people this is hydration that you can feel and it’s definitely something that has to be experienced in the flesh,� said Unaeze.

The bottles feature a silhouette of a woman dancing, a plain black cap and “Mollywatr� written in black down the front. Unaeze says he wanted something that would look as cool as holding a Bud Light, due to what he calls a “stigmatization of water consumption.� Part of the marketing campaign involves T-shirts that read, “Molly is better than Coke� and something else we absolutely cannot print here.

Unaeze isn’t worried that people will think there are actual drugs in the bottles, even though Molly water is the name for what EDM fans call water with Ecstasy dissolved in it.

“When you read the name, there is clearly no E in the water.� (E being shorthand for Ectasy.)

We’ve seen “special� high-priced waters, and even a water sommelier at Ray’s and Stark Bar at LACMA, but drug-named water may take the specialty water business to another level. The 16.9-oz bottles of Mollywatr are currently available at venues in Texas, Michigan and Illinois for a suggested retail price of $5.

Do you think it’s just another marketing ploy? Or a sincere crusade to hydrate the world’s rave-going population? Let us know in the comments below.

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