Scarlett Johansson’s Sexy Super Bowl Ad Got Banned for a Really Dumb Reason
Poor Sodastream. They hired the great Scarlett Johansson to sell their soft drinks during the Super Bowl, and the mean old Fox network won't let them air the commercial.
Why, you ask? Because this commercial has the nerve—the nerve!—to claim that its product is superior to that of its competitors. You know, like how every commercial in history has claimed of its product.
Seriously, that's the reason. At the end of the ad, Johansson says (in her best sultry Scarlett Johansson voice), "Sorry, Coke and Pepsi." And those four words were enough for Fox to force Sodastream to censor the ad or have it rejected outright. Apparently there's some rule prohibiting companies from mocking other companies. You might say that Sodastream was flagged for taunting.
The rejection did not sit well with Sodastream CEO Daniel Birnbaum, who suggested that Fox is simply scared of the two soft-drink giants. "What are they afraid of?" Birnbaum asked. "Which advertiser in America doesn't mention a competitor? This is the kind of stuff that happens in China. I'm disappointed as an American."
In the ad, Johannson (again, doing that great voice that she does) wonders how she can make her message go viral. Mission accomplished, Scarlett.