She quit her role as Oxfam ambassador in a row over her controversial Super Bowl advert for SodaStream – and chose to keep her links with the Israeli fizzy drink firm.
Now speaking for the first time since she severed her ties with the humanitarian group, Scarlett Johansson insists she never saw herself as a role model in the first place.
In an interview with Dazed magazine, Johansson did not directly address the row with Oxfam, but said: ‘I don’t see myself as being a role model; I never wanted to step into those shoes.
‘I never wanted to step into those shoes’: Scarlett Johansson insists she never wanted to be a role model in her first interview since she quit as Oxfam ambassador in a row over her links to SodaStream
Controversial: Scarlett Johansson featured in an advert for SodaStream that aired during the Super Bowl
‘How could I wake up every day and be a normal person if I was completely aware that my image was being manipulated on a global platform. How could I sleep?
‘You have to have peace of mind. You’ve got to be able to protect those things. How else could you exist? You’d go crazy, anybody would go crazy.’
The row erupted after Johansson featured in an advert for the fizzy drinks firm which featured in the SuperBowl earlier this month.
Palestinian workers wait in the production line at the controversial Soda Stream factory in Mishor Adumim
Hitting back: Johansson with SodaStream chief executive Daniel Birnbaum who claimed that his company was being demonised by activists
Scarlett Johansson gives her first interview since the row to Dazed magazine this week
The 29-year-old actress said she had a ‘fundamental difference of opinion’ with the charity after it said it opposed all trade from Israeli settlements because they say it is illegal and denies Palestinian rights.
SodaStream has a large factory in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank – a territory captured by Israel in 1967 and claimed by the Palestinians.
Johansson instead chose to keep her role as brand ambassador for SodaStream, saying she supports trade and ‘social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine’.
SodaStream’s chief executive later hit back at Oxfam’s criticism, saying the charity is being hypocritical in calling for it to close its factory in the occupied West Bank.
Daniel Birnbaum claimed SodaStream was being ‘demonised’ by activists who overlook the fact the factory is the largest private company employing Palestinian workers in the West Bank, all of whom he says receive the same pay as their Israeli colleagues.
