My SodaStream drinks maker ran out of fizz 2 weeks ago and I have failed so far to get it reloaded. I managed to get down to the shops with my empty cannister the first weekend, but Robert Dyas had failed to anticipate the massive demand for carbonated water and I spent an unhappy afternoon hefting a depleted cannister round the shops. Oh well… must try again tomorrow.
Given that I can’t try any old or new flavours right now I figured that rather than let this blog run dry (excuse the pun) I’d turn my attention to checking out SodaStream’s promotional efforts and feature a couple of their adverts on their site. So as a first salvo, here is an advert which launched June 2011:
So, here we are with our happy, well-fed and well-heeled city dwelling family. Dad is too busy to spend much time with the family, much too busy raking in cash from his web 2.0 business, but he still manages to keep it casual with impressive dad open shirt and v-neck combo in the house. Just for Men on the hair and now he’s in a suit dashing about planning the destruction of the rainforests and running about to stay fit between high-powered business meetings.
Sister is too cool for school and gets least air time. We get blitz with images of sharp implements, hiding in a cupboard and a meeting point circled on a map. Kid suggests she is in the secret service, but I suspect she is either self-harming or scheming to elope with her 28 year old boyfriend from the Ordnance Survey Company.
Fortunately then, this element of darkness is fully eclipsed by the well-proportioned gender stereotype of ‘Mum’, who even after a day of keeping every inch of the 10 bedroom mansion immaculate has still had time to put on a nice summer dress and keeps her make up in top-notch order. Mum is as the rules of advertising dictate, a little younger than dad and looks far to young to be the mother of Sister, but most importantly has had the foresight to purchase a top of the line SodaStream and is able to furnish the whole nuclear family with ice-cold fizzy beverages. Good work Mum, you’re a magician! It’s well worth Dad working so hard to keep you at home coming up with excellent domestic ideas.
Anyway, we can see the family lives well by their nicely furnished townhouse, but most importantly by the dulcet tones of the narrator, ‘kid’ who manages to combine a lisp and an accent bred from prep school and trampling on servants. Kid is so posh that he rides a Shetland pony around the house. He only eats from food hampers at Fortnum & Mason and his Clarks shoes are gold plated.
I really enjoyed this advert. It says everything about the SodaStream life experience that SodaStream think we should want to buy into. This is what we all deserve from buying into the SodaStream dream and who am I to question that? We all deserve a townhouse with exposed brick work right? I like the feeling that if I could step into this world, exit the house, walk next door I’d be in another advert for Domestic products circa 1950 and I might well walk out owning a SodaStream and a lifetime’s supply of floor wax.
Most of all I like the fact that I suspect the advert was filmed in Italy or somewhere non English speaking and then dubbed. This gives the whole thing a surreal City of Gold quality. Sound in general is great, with some nice baby chime sounds and great stereo effect on the fizz and pour noise. Good job evil advertising dudes – damn I’m thirsty.