Scarlett Johansson Scandal Likely Boosting SodaStream Sales - Israel Today

Scarlett Johansson Scandal Likely Boosting SodaStream Sales

Sunday, February 02, 2014 |  Israel Today Staff  

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If the reaction of Canadian Employment Minister Jason Kenney is anything to go by, the negative reaction of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to Scarlett Johansson's signing to represent Israeli soda-maker SodaStream is likely to actually boost sales for the company.

A major mover in the BDS movement is international aid organization Oxfam, for which Johansson was an active ambassador. However, the actress terminated her relationship with Oxfam over its own criticism of the her deal with SodaStream, prompting Kenney to posted to Twitter that he is keen to start buying SodaStream's products.

In an interview on Canada's Sun News, Kenney acknowledged that he used to be a supporter of Oxfam, but no more.

"I've given money to Oxfam in the past because I thought they were there to help poor people, not to marginalize Israelis and make Palestinians unemployed," the minister told his host, adding that he is now "dropping Oxfam and becoming a customer of SodaStream, thanks to all the nutters at Oxfam who are marginalizing Palestinians."

It has been widely pointed out that Israeli companies like SodaStream provide thousands of Palestinians with good paying jobs that they would be unable to find otherwise, thanks to the Palestinian Authority's gross mismanagement of billions of dollars in financial aid over the past decade.

Johansson herself even pointed out that fact when she suggested Oxfam's misguided criticism would only serve to put hundreds of Palestinian employees of SodaStream out of work.

In his post to Twitter, Kenney, who visited Israel last month with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, tagged his remark with the term "buycott," which is used by those working to reverse the anti-Israel boycotts by convincing people to buy Israeli-made products.

Israel Today is pleased to host a "buycott" page of our own, featuring a video interview with several Palestinian employees of SodaStream, and plenty of Israeli-made products for your consideration. CHECK IT OUT NOW >>

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