January 16, 2007

L’Oreal Slips Through Golden Globe Swag Loophole?

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Elizabeth reports below that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (known only for producing the Golden Globes) have, thanks to IRS pressure, eschewed handing out ridiculously lush goodie bags to celebrities earning multi millions at a ceremony designed to up their status and therefore their earnings.

Who’s gonna tell Vanity Fair? In the January issue, the FanFair section (which seems designed to get its editors swag aplenty) reports:

The Kwiat Diamonds [their boldface] compact for L’Oreal Paris [ditto], valued at $10,000, will be included in all Golden Globe nominees gift bags. Kwiat’s design was inspired by Old Hollywood glamour, complete with a “red carpet” ruby embedded in the clasp. A less expensive version in rhinestones, which benefits the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, is now available.

Ugh, especially love the treachly pinkwashing justification. L’Oreal, btw, is a regular advertiser in Vanity Fair and the sponsor of the Golden Globes — their once-a-break ads star folks like nine-time nominee, two-time winner Diane Keaton. Hey, now that’s synergy! (And Heather Locklear, six [!!!] nominations, which is kinda all you gotta say about the Golden Globes.)

Here at Mother Jones, there’s not nearly enough swag. Sometimes we get free Clif Bars. I thought for a moment that TerraPass had sent me some swag (free fluorescent lightbulbs!), but then I realized: it was my Mom.

(You can read about other perks of privilege here.)

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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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