SodaStream Super Bowl ad buy has BDS movement’s eye

SodaStream's purchase of a Super Bowl commercial has the BDS movement in the U.S. saying it will step up its campaign against the Israeli firm.

Soda Stream, the maker of home soda machines, will pay about $3.5 million for a 30-second spot for the game. The company reportedly had net earnings of $27.5 million in 2011, according to The Associated Press.

The U.S. boycott, divestment and sanctions movement said it will step up its opposition to SodaStream in light of the Super Bowl ad buy.

The company’s main plant is in Mishor Adumim, an Israeli industrial zone next to Maale Adumim in the West Bank, which has recently been in the news over the planned construction of 3,000 housing units in the E1 corridor connecting Maale Adumim to Jerusalem.

SodaStream has been in the United States for four years, but in that time has only penetrated the market to 1 percent of households. By contrast, the company has had great success in Europe, according to AP.

“The new SodaStream publicity blitz has given the U.S. boycott, divestment, sanctions movement a marvelous opportunity to bring our campaigns targeting settlement products to a new, unprecedented level of visibility and success,” Anna Baltzer, an organizer of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, told AP. “It’s time to burst SodaStream’s bubble. There’s nothing environmentally friendly about military occupation.”

Last month, a SodaStream television commercial was banned in the United Kingdom for “disparaging” other soda manufacturers. The ad shows soft drink bottles exploding as people use the machine at home to carbonate their drinks.