Coke pulls plug on £70m Dasani

COCA-COLA has abandoned the launch of its tap water drink Dasani in Britain in a move which could cost more than £70m.

The brand was withdrawn last week after the company admitted it was contaminated with illegal levels of a chemical linked to cancer.

Dasani had already been ridiculed after it emerged that it came from Thames Water supplies at Sidcup, Kent.

It never shook off comparisons with a plot in the BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses, set just nine miles away, where Delboy Trotter bottled mains water and sold it as Peckham Spring.

Consumer groups had also derided Coca-Cola for selling 500ml bottles for 95p when the same amount of tap water costs only 0.031635p and said the label of 'Pure, Still Water' was misleading.

The company said yesterday that after the drink's withdrawal over a 'quality issue' the timing of the launch was 'no longer considered optimal'.

Bosses have also decided to put off selling Dasani in France and Germany.

Ed Mayo, chief executive of the National Consumer Council, said: 'This is a success for consumer power. Let's toast their decision with tap water.'

Coca-Cola has already spent £7m on marketing and had hoped for sales of £30m a year in Britain, with similar success in Europe.

Daniel Rogers, deputy editor of Marketing Magazine, said the multinational was not 'sensitive enough' to the differences between Europe and the US, where Dasani sells well.