CBS rejects SodaStream's Super Bowl ad

SodaStream (SODA) has learned the hard way that it's not a good idea to take potshots at two of the Super Bowl's biggest advertisers. 

CBS (CBS), which will broadcast the game on Feb. 3, has rejected the home soda-maker's Super Bowl ad. The issue? The commercial's content concerned the network because it took aim at Coca-Cola (KO) and Pepsi (PEP), reports Advertising Age. 

It's not the first time SodaStream has courted censure with its commercials. While the advertisements aren't racy or wild, they seek to illustrate the benefits of making soda at home, rather than buying soda from the store. To that end, its first global ad campaign depicted ordinary consumers making soda at home, while shelves and warehouses filled with plastic-bottled drinks disappeared.

That message was deemed strong enough to get the commercial yanked in the U.K. late last year, with regulators deciding the campaign was too denigrating toward soda makers.

For its rejected Super Bowl ad, SodaStream took an even stronger jab at the soda giants, AdAge notes. The spot depicted truck drivers in clothing with Pepsi and Coke logos, SodaStream chief marketing officer Ilan Nacasch told the publication.

"We had submitted an ad that we preferred to show, but it was not approved, perhaps due to being too provocative regarding the bottled-soda industry," SodaStream spokesman Yonah Lloyd tells MSN Money in an email.

The new plan is for SodaStream to air an older ad that was tweaked by its agency, according to a tweet from Alex Bogusky, the co-founder of SodaStream's ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky. 

Creating controversy with proposed Super Bowl commercials isn't unheard of these days. The animal-rights activist group PETA, for one, often aims for attention by creating envelope-pushing Super Bowl ads. No surprise that their ads, which have featured scantily clad women having fun with vegetables, have been rejected by the networks airing the Super Bowl.

As for SodaStream, the company wasn't trying for an attention grab by getting its commercial rejected, according to AdAge. 

"We really tried to comply with the standards" from CBS, Nacasch said, according to the story.

The company didn't hear from anyone from the beverage industry, SodaStream's Lloyd notes. 

Pepsi will air two 30-second spots, while Coke will air one 60-second ad in the first quarter, according to AdAge. 

--Aimee Picchi owns shares in PepsiCo. She has not bought or sold the stock in the past 12 months.

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