January 30, 2014

Here’s the Banned Scarlett Johansson Super Bowl Ad That Made Pro-Palestinian Activists So Mad


On Thursday, Oxfam, the anti-poverty and humanitarian confederation, announced that they had accepted the resignation of one of their more prominent celebrity ambassadors, Scarlett Johansson. It was the culmination of a well-publicized controversy surrounding the 29-year-old actress’s new gig as the first global brand ambassador of SodaStream International, an at-home soda-maker that has attracted criticism for maintaining a factory in an Israeli settlement on occupied West Bank territory.

As you can imagine, a bunch of pro-Palestinian activists weren’t happy about ScarJo’s endorsement of the product. (Click here to read Johansson’s statement released last weekend strongly defending SodaStream and reaffirming her support for “economic cooperation and social interaction between a democratic Israel and Palestine.”)

A version of her Super Bowl ad for SodaStream has been banned from Sunday’s broadcast—not because of the company’s controversial factory, but because the commercial was mean to Coke and Pepsi. Watch the rejected version above (see the ad that’s set to air on Super Bowl Sunday here).

“Like most actors, my real job is saving the world,” Johansson says in the ad.

Beyond the SodaStream controversy, Johansson’s has been fairly active in progressive politics. She spoke at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, participated in Affordable Care Act celebrity outreach (click here to listen to her Planned Parenthood phone message reminding callers about Obamacare eligibility), and recently offered her endorsement of Hillary 2016.

In 2009, Oxfam severed ties with Sex and the City star Kristin Davis following her endorsement of products from skin-care company Ahava, which also operates a factory in the West Bank. Davis is now working with the anti-poverty organization, again, and is listed on Oxfam America’s website as a celebrity ambassador.

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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.

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