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Miracle Machine designed to turn water into wine was publicity stunt

Published:  13 March, 2014

The Miracle Machine which claimed to turn water into wine in just a few days was a publicity stunt designed to raise awareness for a clean water charity.

Miracle MachineMiracle machineThe fake Miracle Machine claimed it could turn water into wine within three days.

The Miracle Machine campaign, which was set up by wine entrepreneurs Philip James and Kevin Boyer went viral. Almost 200,000 people watched the video on its Kickstarter page, while 600 media outlets covered the story and 6,000 people sent tweets about it in just three weeks.

The device supposedly allowed users to choose from six styles of wine, choose and ingredients pack which would deliver the desired flavours, hook the gadget up to their phone's Bluetooth, and three day's later they would have the wine.

In a new video posted on the Kickstarter page, to coincide with when the page was supposed to go live, Boyer admits that the machine is a fake, saying, "this is just a lump of wood".

"It would be a miracle if we truly could turn water into wine with minimal effort and just a few ingredients. The reality is, the Miracle Machine does not exist."

Instead the pair were looking to raise awareness for the Wine to Water charity which helps provide clean water to people in need.

Doc Hendley, who founded the charity which works in 17 different countries, has reached 250,000 people with sustainable fresh water.  Hendley supplies ceramic water filters which purify water - providing a fresh supply for a family for five years, which he says costs the same as one bottle of fine wine.

A three-pack of Miracle Machine Wine, specially created by James and Boyer, ranges from $75 to $93 on the Winetowater.org site, and the charity claims that "30 lives will be saved from the sale of each package".

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