Welcome Back, Boycotter p. 8

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Limbaugh on Ice
Snapple iced tea; Snapple Beverage Corp.

No, there never really was a Snapple boycott. After a brief scare in 1992, the company quelled false rumors that it was giving money to anti-abortion groups like Operation Rescue, as well as the Ku Klux Klan and anti-gay groups. Not true. But Snapple did advertise for years on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, only dropping the bloated bigot when staid Quaker Oats Co. bought the beverage company. Quaker also canned Howard Stern, an early Snapple pitchman. Now that Quaker has sold Snapple to Triarc Cos., Limbaugh and Stern remain “on hold,” according to published reports.

Just Not Cool
Arizona iced tea; G. Heileman Brewing Co. and Hornell Brewing Co.

The two companies distribute a 40-ounce malt liquor called Crazy Horse, which critics say disgraces the memory of the legendary Oglala Sioux chief and spiritual leader. When the brew hit the market in 1992 with the image of a Native American on the bottle, American Indian leaders were irate. Congress even passed a law against it (which was overturned in 1993), and several states including Minnesota and South Dakota banned the sale of the malt liquor. In 1995 a coalition of activists called the Crazy Horse Defense Project organized a boycott of the two companies; meanwhile, the Crazy Horse family is seeking a share of the profits (suing for $100 million) to restore the honor and defamed name of the great warrior.

A Friendly Frosty?
Labor Day weekend is just around the corner, and you’ve got company. Your choices: Coors, Budweiser, or Kirin. Which beer will set well on your palate and your conscience?

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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