SodaStream targets star appeal as stock loses sparkle

Everyone's favourite
carbonated drinks machine, SodaStream, has signed up Hollywood actor Scarlett Johansson to front a new marketing campaign that will debut during the annual
Super Bowl commercial-fest
next month.

The advert featuring
endorsement-magnet
Johansson will mark the second time that the
Israel-based company has
participated in US television's biggest advertising event.

But SodaStream International is not exactly having a sparkling time at the moment, and after it issued a lacklustre trading update on Monday, its shares plunged on the New York stock market, worsening a recent slide.

"Even Star Johansson Can't Help SodaStream as Stock Sinks 26%" read the Bloomberg headline, which rather makes it sound like the company's failure to meet earnings forecasts are in
some way the fault of the Marvel's Avengers Assemble actor before her turn as its brand ambassador has even reached screens.

SodaStream might be hurting from a "challenging holiday selling season in the US" – its share price is down
42 per cent on the end of October – but it's still targeting annual revenue of $562 million for last year.

That’s not bad for an appliance that nostalgic people of a certain generation will regard as a kitsch artefact of the 1980s.