• by Steve Ellwanger , March 30, 2022

“Baywatch” actor David Hasselhoff reprises his 1980s lifeguard role in an effort to save baby sea turtles from plastic waste pollution in a month-long, global campaign for SodaStream.

The PepsiCo Inc. brand hopes to save one million turtles by donating part of April’s global sales proceeds from its sparkling and carbonated water machines, in a partnership with the non-governmental organization SEE Turtles.

It’s the latest SodaStream campaign to celebrate Earth Day, this year on April 22.

Launched in 1989, “Baywatch” featured Hasselhoff as Lt. Mitch Buchannon, who led a group of lifeguards at Malibu Beach in Los Angeles. The show ran for more than a decade and spawned the spinoff “Baywatch Nights.”

This spot from the Israel-based production company Jiminy Creative opens with Hassehoff in a suit jacket explaining the SodaStream initiative. When an alarm sounds, he sheds the jacket to reveal his iconic red lifeguard garb and exclaims “That’s my cue!”

Then he grabs a SodaStream and, accompanied by the slow-motion footage and pounding music for which “Baywatch” is known, heads to the beach where he is joined by other slow-sprinting lifeguards.

Spotting a baby turtle amid beach debris, Hasselhoff lunges and grabs a plastic cup as the turtle clamors into the water.

The portion of proceeds from each machine sold next month will help “community-based conservation programs at more than 20 important nesting beaches in 16 countries,” a SodaStream rep tells Marketing Daily. “We always pick the best celebrity to deliver our message. We were also happy to learn that David was already an actual SodaStream user.”

In mid-April, SodaStream will launch a QSR-code-activated, augmented reality experience in which anyone can “save their own personalized virtual baby sea turtle and help it reach the ocean safely.”

PepsiCo acquired SodaStream International Ltd in December of 2018.