First came Scarlett Johansson and now…Ellen DeGeneres.
A-list celebrities continue to line up behind SodaStream, the fizzy water company that’s been the bane of the BDS movement for its factory in Mishor Adumim, in the West Bank.
The company’s latest triumph took place this week when Ellen DeGeneres, the queen of daytime television, gave away SodaStream machines to her studio audience “in honor of Earth Day.”
Ellen’s website also touted the environmental benefits of SodaStream over other soda companies:
The average American family will save over 2,000 bottles and cans every year by switching to SodaStream. Everyone in the audience went home with a Wood Starter SodaStream and $200 Crate & Barrel gift card to stock up on SodaStream products.
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The company gained enormous publicity in January when the BDS movement launched a fierce attack on Scarlett Johansson, the company’s newly-appointed Global Brand Ambassador, demanding that she leave the company.
Johansson, however, issued a strong statement of support, noting that SodaStream could serve as a model for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.
I remain a supporter of economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine. SodaStream is a company that is not only committed to the environment but to building a bridge to peace between Israel and Palestine, supporting neighbors working alongside each other, receiving equal pay, equal benefits and equal rights.
The news this week, however, was not all good for SodaStream on the BDS front. The Earth Day Network quietly removed SodaStream as a sponsor for its Earth Day activities, a move promoted by BDS supporters as the “latest victory for the BDS movement” even though it clearly puts politics ahead of concern for the environment.
But for a movement whose bread-and-butter tactic involves bullying celebrities into cancelling appearances in Israel, the high profile support from Ellen DeGeneres and Scarlett Johansson shows that Israel may well be winning the culture war after all.
