TMCnet News
New SodaStream TV Commercial Censored by UK Advertising BodyAIRPORT CITY, Israel and LONDON, Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- SodaStream International, Ltd (NASDAQ: SODA), was informed by Clearcast that the Company's new global advertising campaign has been pulled from transmission and will not be permitted to air in the UK market. Clearcast is the organization that pre-approves UK TV advertising and is jointly funded by the UK's major broadcasters. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121107/NY07412LOGO ) The last minute decision came just ahead of the television commercial's planned UK premiere on Thursday, November 22, during the prime time scheduling of the 'I'm a Celebrity' program on Britain's ITV1 channel. The ad shows different scenes of soda bottles disappearing instantaneously as people use the SodaStream soda maker, delivering a powerful message about waste and sustainability. The spot closes with commentary of 'with SodaStream you can save 1000 bottles per year.' Despite already airing successfully in the United States, Sweden and Australia, it has been deemed inappropriate for UK audiences. Clearcast offered the following reasoning for the decision: "The majority decided that the ad could be seen to tell people not to go to supermarkets and buy soft drinks, instead help to save the environment by buying a SodaStream. We thought it was denigration of the bottled drinks market." "This decision is absurd, and the explanation given is totally unreasonable," stated Daniel Birnbaum, CEO of SodaStream. "Are we really being censored for helping to save the environment This might be the first time in the world when an environmental approach has been shut down by the media to protect a traditional industry. Of course we're competing with bottled beverages, but why is offering a game-changing approach denigrating It is like saying that iPod ads denigrate the Walkman or that car ads denigrated the horse and buggy. Clearcast's decision is disappointing and disturbing for any democratic society." "This decision appears to put the sensitivities of the world's soft drink giants ahead of concern for the environment. We will continue to push Clearcast to reverse their decision and let the British consumer decide," adds Birnbaum. "Meanwhile, I invite UK consumers to watch "The SodaStream Effect" on YouTube and form their own opinion on it." youtube.com/sodastream. According to Euromonitor[1], there are 629 billion bottles and cans manufactured every year. "With global recycling rates estimated to be less than 30%, more than 1 billion of those bottles and cans are dumped as waste across parks, oceans and landfills every single day," concludes Birnbaum. "Our ad confronts the beverage industry and its arguably outdated business model by showing people that there exists a smarter way to enjoy soft drinks, empowering them to get the bubbles without the bottles." About SodaStreamSodaStream manufactures beverage carbonation systems which enable consumers to easily transform ordinary tap water instantly into carbonated soft drinks and sparkling water. Soda makers offer a highly differentiated and innovative solution to consumers of bottled and canned carbonated soft drinks and sparkling water. Our products are environmentally friendly, cost effective, promote health and wellness, and are customizable and fun to use. In addition, our products offer convenience by eliminating the need to carry bottles home from the supermarket, to store bottles at home or to regularly dispose of empty bottles. Our products are available at more than 60,000 retail stores in 45 countries around the world. For more information on SodaStream, please visit the Company's website: www.sodastream.com. To download SodaStream's investor relations app, which offers access to SEC documents, press releases, videos, audiocasts and more, please visit http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soda-ir/id524423001 mt=8 for your iPhone/iPad, or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details id=com.theirapp.soda for your Android mobile device. Company Contact: Yonah Lloyd, Chief Corporate Development and Communications Officer, Phone: +972-3-976-2462, [email protected] Forward Looking StatementsThis release contains forward-looking statements, which express the current beliefs and expectations of management. Such statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations and involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause our future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risks relating to: our ability to expand into our target markets, including the United States; our ability to continue to develop or maintain our presence in retail networks; our ability to develop and implement production and operating infrastructure to effectively support our growth; the success of our marketing campaigns and media spending in terms of increased sales or increased product and brand name awareness; our ability to maintain our customer base in markets where we have an established presence; the risks associated with our reliance on exclusive arrangements for the distribution of our beverage carbonation systems and consumables in each of the markets in which we use third-party distributors; our ability to compete effectively with other companies which currently offer, or may offer in the future, competing products; potential product liability claims if any component of our beverage carbonation systems is misused; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; our being found to have a dominant position in certain markets which may place limits on our ability to operate; risks associated with our being a multinational corporation, including fluctuations in currency exchange rates; our potential exposure to greater than anticipated tax liabilities; our products being subject to extensive governmental regulation in the markets in which we operate; adverse conditions in the global economy which could negatively impact our customers' demand for our products; and other factors detailed in documents we file from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. [1] Euromonitor- Packaging- Beverages 2012 SOURCE SodaStream International, Ltd. |