CBS Bans SodaStream Ad
forbes.com
forbes.com
The entire tone of this op-ed strikes me as either impossibly naive or full of manufactured outrage. How a Forbes contributor is somehow oblivious to the nature of entrenched (and lucrative) corporate relationships is beyond me.
Not to mention that beneath all the free-market rah-rah chest thumping, he entirely disregards the fact that a private company is quite within their right, laws permitting, to decide with whom they wish to do business.
From someone in my family that owns one, some flavors are good while others (fake Dr. Pepper, for example) are horrible.
Compared to bottled/canned soda, you're right that there are high up-front costs and an eventual break-even point to using a SodaStream.
Compared to the more DIY version of buying a CO2 tank and the proper fittings to carbonate a 1- or 2-liter bottle (all easily found at a homebrewing store), the opposite is true: the initial buy-in of a SodaStream is about half the price of a CO2 tank and dual-gauge regulator, but refill prices for a 5lb tank are pennies on the dollar compared to SodaStream's refill cartridges. SodaStream's ultimately a razor and blades business model.
1. http://www.amazon.com/Sodastream-Fountain-Soda-Maker-Starter...
Source: http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/top-stories/173743/what-t... http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2012/10/06/how-to...
Not really. Maybe with a different business model, but from the cost analysis I've seen, SodaStream comes in at about $0.40/L, which is a little over half of what Coke and Pepsi cost, but the cost of Coke and Pepsi is about 50% branding anyway. A fair comparison would be generic sodas, which are are closer to $0.50/L. So you're only saving about 20%, even though you've cut out the cost of bottling water, warehousing it, and shipping it around the country (aka, most of the actual cost of soda).
Which is to say that the SodaStream is a rip-off. They lock you into buying their proprietary CO2 tanks (which are specially threaded so you can't shop around), so it's sort of a similar business model to printers or razors. Except, of course, that you can actually build a DIY carbonation system for not much more than the cost of the SodaStream fountain itself (and it's not a difficult build; you just have to connect some hoses to some off-the-shelf parts, and you can find plenty of guides on the internet).
Guess they try to fill the chasm with hipsters so that joe-shmoe can walk right over it.
An initial web search shows this, but I have no idea how accurate it is.
(http://www.micromatic.com/forum/us-en/trouble-shooting-beer-...)
Take that with a big grain of salt. I'd certainly look into it more before I used it. :)
Unless you just always pay full price for soda and are too lazy to wait for a sale or think you are above coupons.
Maybe they made a deal with CBS to purposely reject the ad, because that seems like a growing trend - to purposely get rejected so you get attention.
The genius move to me is the fact that after 100 years of marketing by PepsiCo and Coca-Cola to create a multi billion dollar global market, here comes these guys that just piggy back on all that to sell the same sugar water but delivered in in shiny metal/plastics proprietary gadgets.
John Sculley should have jumped on board with these guys instead.
And you can always hack the CO2 cartridges for DIY refill.
[1] http://www.popsci.com/diy/article/2012-06/how-make-your-own-...
I don't really drink soda. But I love carbonated water, as probably anyone with a sodastream probably does. I drink 2 liters of Sodastream per DAY, and thus my breakeven point was at 90 days, not 90 weeks.
We've had a sodastream for over 4 years now, and have actually saved a big chunk of change on it...
The CO2 is overpriced, but tolerable.
You clearly do not drink seltzer as quickly as I do.
Regarding the economics, as someone with a serious diet coke addiction, the SodaStream has been a godsend. My first step in getting off diet coke: switching to seltzer water. But seltzer still costs roughly 1$ / 2 liter bottle (and I usually see it for 1.19 here), or at least .50/liter, whereas the sodastream is estimated to be ~.30/liter. I drink at least 1 liter / day, 2-3 on weekends, which means .20-.60 saved/day, or ~70-220/year saved. Plus, you always have it when you need it, and you don't have to lug around water bottles from the store.
I wouldn't recommend it for the actual soda flavors, however, or if you don't use it very often. But if you have a problem like I do, it's well worth it, and pays for itself fairly quickly. But mostly I like avoiding the vast amounts of plastic waste I'd otherwise be generating.
SodaStream, like Godaddy, Peta, many others before. Pretty smart.
It's less disturbing then the issue with CBS + CNET + CES2013, but it shows a pattern.
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-pornhubs-rejected-super-b...
Perhaps SodaStream etc. is more popular here in Europe as we don't drive quite that much in cars. I'm sure I drink 20-30l of carbonated water per week; I wouldn't want to have to carry that home from the shop every week and return the empty bottles the next week.
Except making my water fizzy, AGA's CO2 production is apparently used to extinguish exotic fires. There's a particular type of compressed wood pellets used in heating power plants here, that wood is stored in large silos which apparently can catch fire internally. They spent 2 weeks trying to slowly extinguish this fire using 170 ton of CO2 shipped by trucks from AGA (equivalent to 400,000 SodaStream compatible containers).
Seams like they've been in business since 1903.
Who's disposing of those things, they are much cheaper to swap out.
For comparison, considering only the cost of obtaining carbonated water, and assuming water is free (since it isn't a significant cost), in New Zealand dollars:
1 L of store bought carbonated water: ~$0.99
1 L of water at the lowest Sodastream carbonation: $0.20
(assuming $12 / 450g of CO2, 450g makes 60L).
1 L of water using market rate food grade CO2: $0.0032
(assuming a 3.5 kg cylinder makes 467 L and costs $15
to fill).This article provides information on the DIY approach: http://m.popsci.com/diy/article/2012-06/how-make-your-own-ho...
Sure it might be cheaper to go food grade and do it that way, but I am more than happy saving even a smaller amount of money, because it adds up quick.
There are quite a few people I know personally that drink it as well (non-Europeans), mainly because it is better for them than regular soda.
Some eco-friendly system places here in Copenhagen now have their own water filtration system and make higher-quality still and fizzy water on site.
Much like the CEO of a company selling all shares right before bad news hits is not necessarily illegal. Is a pretty high sign of insider trading, though.
Of course, usually caveats about random internet person possibly being completely confused on some topics apply. (And please, if I am, correct me.)
Personally I don't think rises to the level of requiring the big stick o' government to come smashing down, but opinions can reasonably vary.
To clarify, the RF spectrum isn't funded by taxpayers; it simply exists.
This could still work out in SodaStream's favor. The public outrage against CBS and big soda (?) creates the sort of David vs. Goliath dynamic that people gravitate to.
On a private network? No.
Given all that, I don't have any particular problem mandating that they run a fair advertising market.
I agree that people with privilege get all cranky when upstarts challenge them. And so Coke might cry "unfair!" when somebody with 1/100th of their marketing budget outmaneuvers them. To which I say: boo hoo! Marketplaces exist for the benefit of consumers, not producers.
An entire article and not a single mention of the fact that SodaStream is controversial because its factory is located in Mishor Adumim? Seriously?
Um... my guess is that it was not mentioned because it has no bearing or implication as to the reason why the advert was blocked by CBS.
> The EU's highest court ruled in 2010 that Sodastream was not entitled to claim a "Made in Israel" exemption from EU customs payments because of the companies' primary manufacturing plant location outside of Israel in the Israeli-occupied territories West Bank settlement of Mishor Adumim.[68][69][70]
> Sodastream has been criticized for operating a manufacturing plant on land in the West Bank by the Israeli non-governmental organizations Coalition of Women for Peace[71] and Peace Now,[72] as well as other human rights organizations.[73]
http://mondoweiss.net/2013/01/advertising-sodastream-arresti...
http://mondoweiss.net/2013/01/fantastic-msnbcs-hayes-airs-se...
My parents had one in the 90's but it became harder and harder to get CO2 canisters to refill it with.
Wouldn't you save a lot of bother by simply buying cheap mineral water and mixing with that? That's what I do.
You can get a 1.5L bottle of perfectly nice fizzy water in Germany for about 20 cents if you recycle the bottle and get the deposit back.
I recently bought one for convenience reasons (after i learned about th glass caraves) and am totally happy with it - I guess as more (young) people in the bigger cities don't own a car (and only buy small quantities of food in the supermarket around the corner), more will use products like SodaStream.
Pricier than it should be perhaps, but I honestly think I have an addiction to it; I've been drinking carbonated water at home almost exclusively for years. I'm considering getting a professional carbonation setup like a bar might use.
That must be nice, but in the US (at least where I live), a 2L bottle of seltzer is 80 cents, minimum.
That is an outrage?
As a person who hates the throwaway bottle culture of soda (and the HFCS, etc.), but who also supports middle-east peace, I'm torn here. :-/
Plus I've been experimenting with different mixins, juice, instant tea, that sort of thing.
They seem like a cool company, I've love for them to get more popular.
I'd expect this to be even better for Sodastream now than if it had not been banned.
1998 called. They want their web stats back.
(on a related sidenote, each year various ad trolls intentionally submit unairable commercials and then post them online claiming that they were censored by the Man. Not only do they get attention, they don't have to pay for the original expensive timeslots either)
I'm reasonably sure that it belongs in the same dubious category as that other great 'money saver', the FoodSaver.