SodaStream ad banned from Super Bowl gains millions of views on YouTube

SodaStream ad that was banned from Sunday night’s Super Bowl game can now be viewed by anyone on YouTube and the company behind it is reaping the benefits.

SodaStream, which makes home water carbonators used to whip up homemade soda, directly challenged Coca-Cola and Pepsi in its commercial that was set to air in the fourth quarter.

CBS saw the ad as a challenge to two behemoth advertisers and promptly banned it.

“Because SodaStream is a direct competitor of the Big Soda brands that tend to be ubiquitous during the Super Bowl,” SodaStream told The Huffington Post. “The rejection of one of the company’s proposed ads, which takes aim at Big Soda, is perhaps not surprising.”

The ad pits a Coke and a Pepsi delivery driver against each other in a dueling banjos moment that culminates in both drivers’ merchandise exploding as a man opts for Soda Stream, instead.

It was reported banned on Friday.

This is not an unusual occurrence. The biggest night in football draws a massive viewership and seconds-long ads can cost millions.

But SodaStream claims they didn’t intend for their ad to be cancelled, as other advertisers have been doing for years to win some cheap PR.

Forced to rework the commercial for air during Super Bowl XLVII, the original spot has now gone viral on the internet and SodaStream has been rewarded with a mountain of publicity nonetheless.

Despite their claims to innocence in the matter, this a path the company has gone down before.

An ad intended for UK viewers was banned by the company Clearcast in November 2012 for the exact same issue when the broadcaster claimed the spot “denigrated other soft drinks”.

SodaStream subsequently posted its largest ever stock market gains.

Prior to that, the company received a cease and desist demand from Coca-Cola after placing displays made out of used water bottles and soda cans that portrayed the company as wasteful in South Africa and elsewhere.

It remains unclear if the Isreali company is intentionally culling publicity from its advertising misbehavior.

However, SodaStream will certainly win at least a few fans as the banned Super Bowl ad gains millions of free views on YouTube.