PRESS ADVISORY

31 January 2013

Contact:

Nancy Kricorian, CODEPINK Organizer,  nancy@stolenbeauty.org, 646-234-8529

Alli McCracken, CODEPINK Organizer, alli@codepink.org, 860-575-5692

Johansson Chooses SodaStream over Oxfam; CODEPINK and Other Human Rights Groups Hail Victory for Boycott Movement

After a concerted campaign by CODEPINK, the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, Adalah-NY, Jewish Voice for Peace, Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights, the US Palestinian Community Network and other human rights groups, the international anti-poverty charity Oxfam and its Global Ambassador Scarlett Johansson have severed their ties over the issue of illegal Israeli settlement goods. Ms. Johansson has chosen to continue in her new role as spokesperson for SodaStream, an Israeli company with its main manufacturing plant located in an illegal Israeli settlement within the West Bank.

The boycott campaign against SodaStream’s violations of international law was thrown into the mainstream media spotlight by Scarlett Johansson’s recent affiliation with SodaStream. Johansson is featured in SodaStream’s upcoming Super Bowl advertisement. Activists advocating for Palestinian human rights quickly mobilized on social media—using such platforms as Thunderclap, Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook—to circulate calls for Johansson to drop SodaStream or for Oxfam to drop Johansson. Photoshopped images of Johansson sipping soda against the backdrop of the Israeli occupation went viral.

“We are glad that Oxfam and Scarlett Johansson have parted ways. Oxfam’s clear stance against Israeli settlement trade and Johansson’s association with occupation profiteer SodaStream made their relationship untenable,” said Nancy Kricorian of CODEPINK. “We look forward to educational leafleting opportunities at Ms. Johansson’s public events.”

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