01 February 2014

Scarlett Johansson has brains as well as beauty!

You know that SodaStream ad by Scarlett Johansson? The one to be screened during the Superbowl Final? Well, following criticism, Johansson has stepped down as an Oxfam Ambassador and, if she spoke the words of the statement attributed to her, has a lot of political nous too. The full story's here, in The Times of Israel.

She's got guts as well as political nous, because she would get a lot of brownie points for her Oxfam role, and she has preferred to stick by what we hope are her principles: support for a two-state outcome. What is interesting is that her statement supports the view that by having a factory in Ma'ale Adumim, SodaStream actually provide a far higher standard of living for their reported 900 Palestinian employees than they could possibly gain by working for local employers. Not that this cuts any ice with the BDS crowd, of course. They'd prefer the Palestinian workers remained poverty-stricken and lent "moral support" to their claims of Israeli brutality.

Oxfam have a lot to answer for, of course. Their statement includes the following gem: "Oxfam is opposed to all trade from Israeli settlements, which are illegal under international law." To link to the outspoken Australian FM on her recent trip to Israel: under what international law? Or, more crudely, who says so? Anyway, a Middle Eastern site has an interesting slant on all this: "[While] [a]nti-Zionist sites like The Electric Intifada and Mondoweiss have referred to the 900 Palestinian employees at SodaStream’s West Bank facility as working in slave-labor-like conditions...on Tuesday, Al Arabiya wrote a story questioning whether or not the anti-bubble backlash would, in fact, harm those very Palestinians first."

Anyone States-side will still be able to see the Johansson ad, as, following Fox TV's cancelling of it, SodaStream have deleted the conclusion of the ad (the original is in the link, above) which has Scarlett saying "Sorry, Coke and Pepsi!"

By Brian Goldfarb.

By the editor.

Of course, the subject of the post demands a reminder about the beauty part, so from a recent post that proves another hitherto unknown trait of our heroine:


Viva Scarlett !

5 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Oxfam is one those "charities" (like the Red Cross) known for its greedy executives.The CEO of their British outlet "earned" $196,000 last year, according to the Daily Mail.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

This is what allows them to be so charitable ;-)

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Further to the article, a follow-up in The Alegemeiner (http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/01/30/scarlett-johanssons-decision-to-back-sodastream-over-oxfam-puts-charitys-anti-israel-activism-into-spotlight-interview/) includes a report from an interview with Anne Herzberg of NGO Monitor giving much more detail of the discord/disagreements within Oxfam (and with many of its "Ambassadors") as to whether their mission is to fight poverty & hunger of support BDS - the question is asked as to how supporting BDS fights hunger, etc.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

I echo your sentiments Snoopy, Viva Scarlett Johansson's. Live Long and Prosper for her and her overpowering knockers, ah I mean Intellect.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Both parameters are vital in our life, of course, and I know what you mean.