See the update at the end of the article.
Fox News has followed the lead of CBS last year and has rejected a scheduled SodaStream ad that promotes its product at the expense of Coca Cola and Pepsi.
The Israel-based company has won headlines the past couple of weeks by Scarlett Johansson’s staring down the Boycott Israel movement and maintaining that SodaStream, which has a factory in Judea, otherwise known as part of the West Bank, actually promotes peace by hiring Palestinian Authority Arabs and treating them on par with its Jewish workers. The commercial that was canned before it could be aired during the Supper Bowl last year mocked Coca Cola and Pepsi for hurting the environment with its plastic bottles. SodaStream machines make the fizz in a machine in the home or office.
This year, Fox News is broadcasting the Super Bowl, and it is upset by the proposed commercial in which Johansson says, “Sorry, Coke and Pepsi.” Fox insists that the ad not name the big guys, which have a combined sales of $115 billion a year compared with only $562 million for SodaStream. The proposed SodaStream commercial was designed under the leadership of Alex Bogusky, one of the big shots in the world of advertising. He told USA Today, he is thoroughly upset “that Fox protects its big advertisers to the detriment of the environment and consumers.”
SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum told the newspaper, “If I could get my money back, I’d be happy to be out of that deal.” The reason might be that SodaStream has won so much free publicity that it may not be worth paying Fox News to air a commercial, especially if it cannot knock Coke and Pepsi. Below is a trailer for the commercial.
Update: JewishPress.com received the following update from SodaStream: A modified version of the ad is now running, with the phrase “Sorry, Coke and Pepsi” having been replaced with different words.