Following the succeeding issuance of the "red alert" status in Beijing, China, sales of fresh air bottles from Canada's Rocky Mountains skyrocketed. The company Vitality Air has been in the service since 2014 but had only delivered air products to China 2 months ago.
In an interview with the company's co-founder, he claimed that its first batch of 500 bottles was cleared in just 4 days. He further added that more boxes with 4,000 bottles are being shipped; however, most of these have already been sold.
The bottles containing 7.7 liters of fresh air from the Banff National Park in the Rocky Mountains are sold on shelves for 100 yuan (£10). The price is fiftyfold higher than China's mineral water. Most of their clients are residents of cosmopolitan cities most affected by the air pollution, particularly the northeastern and southern parts.
Vitality Air is not the pioneering company to invade the Chinese market. In 2014, Laing Kegang, an artist from Beijing, yielded around £512 after selling an air-filled jar that he got from a business trip in France. Also, pop-sized cans were reportedly sold by multimillionaire Chen Guangbiao in 2013. His alleged source came from the less smokestacked areas of China.
Mr. Lam of Vitality Air admitted that at first he did not think the market would sell off. He recalled how they jokingly sold a plastic bag-filled air for less than 50 pence on Ebay's auction site. The second bag made them realize the increased demand for fresh air in the market after selling it for $160 (£105).
Well-off Chinese women are the company's top consumers. Harrison Wang, the representative in China, claimed the upper class buys for their families, and some are given away as presents. "In China fresh air is a luxury, something so precious," Wang said.
Although apparently, China remains to be the biggest client, the company also sells across India and Middle East. With the world's natural resources becoming scare, they are now considered a luxury. Although measures and attempts are being taken to fight climate change, and even world leaders meet every year to devise something to save the world, reality is, the damage has been done. And what people can most likely do now is to minimize the impact and help together achieve greener technologies.
