NFTs are a great test to see how ridiculously stupid of an idea can become popular and suck up money through sheer volume of disingenuous promotion.
Network effects just weren’t factored into the resilience of our social/financial/political structures and things like this are stress testing and breaking things.
They've been paying that (inflation adjusted) for quite some time, although the water also had a bunch of sugar and a bit of flavoring and color in it. The bottled water thing started off mostly as a counter to sugary colas. Colas are a thing for people that don't like tap water (which varies in taste all over the country).
Network effects just weren’t factored into the resilience of our social/financial/political structures and things like this are stress testing and breaking things.