Sodastream causes an ad-break fizz with its soft-drinks takedown

Who knew SodaStream even existed 20 years after the machine in my kitchen gave me a semblance of (relative) playground cool that never returned?

Well, it does, and DIY fizz has evidently become such big business that an advert for the carbonation company has been pulled in the UK for taking a pop at the soft-drinks industry.

The 30-second spot features snazzy folk using SodaStream at home. Each time they do so, the ad cuts to scenes of exploding soft drinks. "Save 2,000 bottles a year," it says, implying an environmental benefit.

Clearcast, the body that approves television ads in the UK, decided the commercial "denigrated other soft drinks" and was in breach of industry code. Cue fizzing fury from SodaStream, which insisted it had "neither named nor disparaged" anyone, calling the ban "senseless".

SodaStream had a tricky 1990s when, alas, its syrup-and-gas system stopped being even remotely cool, but it has fared better since a 2010 relaunch.