Never has there been such a national beverage obsession since the Pumpkin Spice Latte.
The spike in popularity of La Croix (rhymes with boy) is monumental. Currently the best selling brand of sparkling water in the country, La Croix contains zero calories, sugar or sodium, making it an attractive, cheaper alternative for diet cola drinkers, as well as health conscious consumers. And also, people who like to take pictures of things and post them online. The brand has been around for more than 30 years (30 years!!), but according to the Wall Street Journal, La Croix sales have doubled in just the past two.
Why the sudden jump in demand? For one, La Croix has done a great job promoting itself, creating a hashtag for people to #LiveLaCroix and tell about it. They also debuted a line of pretentious flavors social media-bait, like pomme-bayá (apple-berry), cerise limón (cherry lime), piña fraise (pineapple strawberry), melón pomelo (grapefruit melon) and the most popular, pamplemousse (grapefruit), which has its own Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Consumers are now photographing themselves drinking their favorite flavor of La Croix (or at the very least, holding a can), documenting their turgid fridge, overflowing with shiny new cans, and their bloated recycle bins after a La Croix binge. The brand has become a status symbol for the aesthete; La Croix is the new food porn.
With 20 flavors and snazzy generic (vintage!) packaging, people are going nuts for this stuff. Here’s a tiny sample of the insanity. How many of these tweets can you relate to? #allofthem #dontlie #nojudgment
