Celebrex May Lead to Death, or Just Tripping Out

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This may be the weirdest commercial I’ve ever seen. I just saw it for the first time last night during Olbermann, and I was dumbfounded. It’s apparently a spot for Celebrex, and I had to look it up afterwards to find out that it’s a pain reliever, because I was so hypnotized by the visual effects I had no idea what was going on. First, there’s the weirdly creepy “all the lines turn out to be text” effect, which you don’t notice right away. It’s very cool technically, and quite beautiful, but kind of has “Big Brother/Matrix” overtones, like, “everything in the world is made of fine print!” Then, out of nowhere, the voice-over gal says something like, “Celebrex may lead to heart attack, which can lead to death.” Death? What?! That’s bad, right? Is that in the fine print somewhere along the side of the coffee cup? But, thankfully, there’s a lovely ambient acoustic guitar soundtrack—reminiscent of, I dunno, Air’s “Cherry Blossom Girl” (link NSFW)—that lulls you back into a state of tripped-out bliss. Look at all the bubbles.. they’re made of words! So pretty! And it goes on… and on… and on… for two and a half minutes. Did I dream this, after some bad salmon? No, it’s on YouTube:

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From the desk of Mother Jones CEO, Monika Bauerlein...

Newsrooms can be funded in many ways. One of the most controversial (and volatile) ways is by a for-profit corporation or a billionaire owner. We see it across the headlines on a weekly basis: the claw backs in public media, the gutting of The Washington Post, the bending over backwards to appeal to Trump and his allies.

But not here.

When Mother Jones first started publishing 50 years ago, our founders made a critical decision: to be a reader-supported nonprofit. They knew that no corporate owner would be interested in a muckraking newsroom; they also knew that no muckraking newsroom would be interested in following the agenda of a corporate owner.

And so, we’ve been reader-funded for half a century. We rely on contributions from our readers—readers like you—whether it’s $50, or $15 a month, or whatever fits your budget. People give what they can, and every donation makes a difference for our newsroom, which has grown tremendously—in size and reach and renown—since its inception in 1976.

You may be wondering: What does it take to publish an investigation? And what does my donation actually fund? The answers are one and the same: It takes people, resources, and time. And that’s what your donation funds directly.

Every donation Mother Jones receives from readers fortifies our newsroom, whether we’re covering underreported scandals out of Washington, DC, or the most important news of the day. And right now, each donation will be doubled because of our $50,000 match. So when you make a donation—$5, $50, any amount—it’ll go twice as far.

Your support keeps us going. If you’re able, donate today.

Thanks for reading.

—Monika

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