SodaStream being sued over Game of Thrones themed commercial starring the Mountain and Septa Unella

One of the recent attention-worthy Game of Thrones fandom news has been about The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) and Septa Unella (Hannah Waddingham) starring in a commercial for SodaStream and now SodaStream is now being dragged to court over this commercial. Titled Shame or Glory, the advertisement was made to promote SodaStream, a company which makes machines that lets people make their own sparkling water, and was very anti-plastic, where a guy carrying bottled sparkling water for The Mountain, is ‘shame’d by Septa Unella, and the Mountain then himself says : “F*** plastic bottles.”

The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA)has decided to initiate legal action against the company, by sending them a Cease and Desist letter, claiming that the advertisement unfairly targets bottled water, while ignoring other bottles soft drinks. The IBWA represents big brands like Nestlé and Fiji Water.

Australia sees a billion plastic bottles being made, every year. A research carried out by SodaStream has showed that only one thirds of these are recycled. Not only this, about 90 percent of all the waste washing up on the Australian shores, is plastic. IBWA however, argues that the commercial is just a campaign to drive sales. The Cease and Desist letter says :

“While claiming environmental concerns about plastic bottles, your company’s video singles out bottled water products for criticism, but not less-healthy sugary beverages that are also packaged in plastic — such as carbonated soft drinks, energy drinks, and juices.

In fact, bottled water has the lowest environmental footprint of all packaged beverages. In particular, the amount of water and energy used to produce bottled water is less than any other packaged drink. And all bottled water containers are 100 percent recyclable.”

Daniel Birnbaum, the CEO of SodaStream, said in a statement :

“We will not let the IBWA’s threats stop us from trying to save the planet. The IBWA, a front for major plastic manufactures like Nestlé – the world’s largest producer of bottled water – is nothing more than an elite group of like-minded corporate sponsors who prioritise their own profits over the care of our planet.

I don’t know what’s more offensive: The notion that a huge corporate organisation thinks it can silence a small company or that the message they want gagged is that plastic bottles represent a real threat to the environment.”

We would certainly like to see more such advertisements from SodaStream, especially if they have more Game of Thrones stars in them. What do you feel? Tell us in the comments!

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