September/October 2009 Issue

Hot Water

Celebrities sighted with Fiji Water bottles.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Paris Hilton

Last year at the Sundance Film Festival, Woody Harrelson gave his handlers fits when he grabbed a bottle of Fiji Water from a cameraman and kept swigging from it during an interview—at an event sponsored by a rival water brand! Also spotted toting Fiji bottles recently:

Christina Aguilera

Jessica Alba

Halle Berry

Mary J. Blige (demands 10 1.5-liter bottles of room-temp Fiji Water before shows)

Orlando Bloom

Gisele Bundchen

Mariah Carey

Courteney Cox

Cindy Crawford

Tom Cruise

Matt Damon

Cameron Diaz

Celine Dion

ZAc Efron

Zac Efron (while hiking shirtless in Hollywood Hills)

Harrison Ford

Megan Fox

Sarah Michelle Gellar

Whoopi Goldberg

Al Gore

Al Gore (during MySpace Mos Def interview)

Anne Hathaway

Perez Hilton

Vanessa Hudgens

Kate Hudson

Hugh Jackman

Brody Jenner

Jewel

Paris Hilton (often drinks with straw to save lipstick)

Scarlett Johansson

Elton John

Nicole Kidman

Ben Kingsley

Lindsay Lohan

Eva Longoria

Nicole Richie

Tobey Maguire

Robert Pattinson

Brad Pitt

Spencer Pratt

Keanu Reeves

Denise Richards

LeAnn Rimes

Nicole Richie (hurled contents of bottle at paparazzi)

Maria Sharapova

Kimora Lee Simmons

Jessica Simpson

Britney Spears

Justin Timberlake

Ashley Tisdale

Keith Urban

Owen Wilson

Diddy (“It tastes so pure”)

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“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.

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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.

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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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