chris onesto creates water bottles that reflect california's drought

chris onesto creates water bottles that reflect california’s drought
all images courtesy of chris onesto

since 2012, california has been experiencing its worst drought in recorded history, however southern californians treat it more as a joke than a crisis. in response, chris onesto has created the ‘california water company’, a water bottle company that sells the last of the state’s water in order to call people to action and think about conservation. chris felt that the only way to get people’s attention about the problem was to hack reality so deeply that it would make them wonder if what they were seeing was real. his main objective was to make the fictional ‘california water company’ look like it existed as much as possible. to bring the project to life, chris designed packaging, print ads, a website, water delivery service and even posed the option of buying the water of the ‘california water company’ as a commodity on the new york stock exchange.

the bottles distributed reflect the drought. a shortage of water in california means a shortage of water in the bottles you buy.

*this project is chris onesto’s student project and not affiliated with any client

water bottles will be sold at grocery stores and schools in southern california

copy on water bottle will educate the reader to the harsh reality of the drought

outdoor advertisements will be produced to introduce the drought bottle

print ads spoofing other water bottle ads will be used to inform audiences of the drought and water bottle

print ads spoofing other water bottle ads

all ad like objects will direct to a microsite where users can learn more about the drought and sign a petition

armored vans will act as water delivery trucks and drive around cities in southern california
california water company launching their scarce water as a commodity on the new york stock exchange

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: juliana neira | designboom