In the summer of 2016, a strange trend emerged: bottle flipping. Videos of people, mainly kids and teens, flipping bottles partially filled with liquid, flooded the internet after teen Mike Senatore went viral for flipping a water bottle in his high school talent show. The goal was to flip the bottle into the air from its neck so that it landed upright on its base. With these half-full bottles — usually, bottles of water — participants quickly annoyed parents and teachers alike. Luckily, the trend subsided after a while, and water bottles everywhere were spared.
More recent — though, not viral — bottled water trends display a decline in unit sales. Data obtained by Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago, shows that unit sales are down nearly 1% in the 52 weeks ending Sept. 4. Sally Lyons Wyatt, executive vice president at IRI, says this indicates “that gains to the category are due to price increases,” as the dollar sales of bottled water is up almost 13%.