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Bobbi Kristina Brown In Medically Induced Coma; Measles Outbreak in 14 States; Explanation for Depressing Nationwide Super Bowl Ad; Smart Drugs in Silicon Valley.

Aired February 02, 2015 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There are members in the family that are saying that they may not be legally married and that's something, so that has also caused a bit of problems within the family, no question about it, that the family has been concerned about her relationship with Nick Gordon.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Nick, can you pick up where Sunny was leaving off? Nick Gordon grew up really within the family, didn't he?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He was someone that the Houstons took into their home very early on and was sort of a stepbrother or adopted brother to Bobbi Kristina Brown.

Let's go back to the reality TV show that came out just after Whitney Houston died and there is vocal concern by Bobbi Kristina's aunt that they had a co-dependent relationship, Nick Gordon and Bobbi Kristina Brown, and they really fed off of each other in those episodes. There was a lot of talk about abuse of alcohol, chemical dependency, and many people started to question just how sober Bobbi Kristina Brown was during those episodes.

And it's been no secret. This is not speculation whatsoever, Brooke. This is a concern that has been vocalized by the family and, also, really a big, major concern in what we're hearing written about the family -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Nick Valencia and Sunny Hostin, thank you so much.

Next, an outbreak of measles in 14 states. It's worrying a lot of parents and health officials across the U.S. Should parents be forced to vaccinate their kids?

Plus, the general theme of the Super Bowl commercials. How one ad and why it was created in the first place. We'll show how and why it was treated in the first place. We'll take you inside the pitch meeting, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Just half past the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

The new numbers. A statement from the director of the CDC showing that more Americans are contracting a disease that is so deadly and contagious that at it's worse, it killed 2.6 million people each and every year. I'm talking about measles. It's a disease that was eliminated here in the U.S. thanks to an affordable and safe vaccine, a vaccine that many are refusing to use. New numbers showing 102 people spanning 14 different states, all of the yellow states you see there, were reportedly got measles in the month of January. Most of those tracing back to the one outbreak in Disneyland in California.

Dr. Isaac Thompson, let me bring you in, assistant professor of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University.

Doctor, quickly, I was looking at the director of the CDC who said over and over the science on this is very clear for those communities that aren't, you know, having their kids vaccinated. Let me begin with this whole Amtrak story. Hundreds of people in New York may have been exposed when this college student infected with measles hopped on a train, rode through the state. My question to you would be, how does that then make someone vulnerable to contagion with the risks exposed with that kind of exposure?

DR. ISAAC THOMPSON, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Sure. I think, first of all, one thing that that drives home at any time we're at risk of cases being imported from countries and there are many countries where it's still circulating. And yes, we don't know how many people were exposed to that. We know that measles is an incredibly contagious viruses, one of the most contagious that we know of. It's airborne and it spreads very rapidly. Time will only tell how many were exposed in that and there could be others just like that. We just don't know how many -- someone's coughing a lot on a train or airplane, for example, there's a large region where they are definitely exposed.

BALDWIN: And then you have these communities, that Dr. Frieden is alluding to, that the parents who chose not to, for personal or religious beliefs, whatever reason, are not vaccinating their kids. The governor of Chris Christie has been slammed today after defending parents', quote, "measure of choice" not to vaccinate their kids. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R), GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: All I can say is, we vaccinate ours. That's the best way I can give you my opinion. It's much more important what you think as a parent than what you think as a public official. And that's what we do. But I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well. That's the balance that the government has to decide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That's the measure of choice that everyone has jumped on. His office later released a statement clarifying, there is no question, kids should be vaccinated, but he is actually right. I mentioned in certain states, you know, that these vaccines are mandated, but parents do have a choice. My question to you would be -- I mean, the CDC points to this. Dr. Gupta points to this. I would imagine you do, too. The science is very clear. What will it take? Can you change a law? How can you have, though, the government telling parents what they can and can't do?

THOMPSON: Right. It's obviously a very -- it's a very complicated issue but I think what we have to remember, personal choice, of course, is incredibly important. It's one of the concepts that this country was founded on. But safety is also incredibly important, safety of an individual, safety of a community. I think one example would be the seat belt law. We're required to wear seat belts because seatbelts are proven to be safe and to save lives.

Vaccines are also well-proven to save lives, incredibly safe and very effective. I think there are certain points where -- and this outbreak that drives this home -- that if there's too much of these what are called personal exemption laws, if people are allowed to be misled by information, things read on the Internet, confusing, et cetera, and make a truly poor choice, this results in these under- vaccinated rates. Unfortunately, it will take potentially tighter mandates for this.

BALDWIN: You think that's possible, tighter mandates?

THOMPSON: I think we have some states -- so it varies state by state. We have some states where they only have essentially a medical exemption and someone has an allergy or a medicine unsafe for them, they are exempt at taking that medication. With that simple measure alone, you get well over 99 percent vaccine coverage in those states. There are other states that have these very kinds of more open, personal belief exemptions, and there are loopholes around that, and we're seeing the result of that. I think we're -- this is proving that is what it takes. There are countries in Europe, for example, that don't have any type of mandate. It's just a personal choice.

But they have nearly 100 percent vaccination in those countries and they don't have these outbreaks. And so for reasons that many can debate in our country right now, many are choosing not to vaccinate, and we're seeing the effects of that right now.

BALDWIN: We are. Every week, more states added to this list.

Dr. Isaac Thompson, thank you very much, at Vanderbilt.

Next, if you watched the Super Bowl, you probably noticed many of the ads were kind of, sort of depressing, but Nationwide getting most of the backlash for that. CNN went inside the meeting -- this was months ago -- with these executives as they were pitching the idea. Here are the reasons they wanted to do it the way we saw.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A Fiat that pops Viagra and an avocado dropped in the first round and Lindsay Lohan playing homage to her own bad-girl image. Last night's Super Bowl commercials give plenty to laugh out, but many were downright depressing, including this one that almost universally stopped viewers in their tracks. The result was certainly no accident.

Richard Quest has this behind-the-scenes look at what many are calling the saddest Super Bowl ad ever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MATT JAUCHIUS, CEO, NATIONWIDE INSURANCE: I think we were purposely trying to do it, disrupt the normal Super Bowl advertising.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's 10 weeks to the Super Bowl and the final creative meeting for a very unusual commercial.

JAUCHIUS: This is a very hard-hitting message, right? And it's very serious in tone.

QUEST: It's not just serious, it's downright upsetting. The ad is designed to raise awareness that preventable accidents are the biggest killer of children in the United States.

JAUCHIUS: This spot is not intended to sell insurance. It's intended to save lives. And, therefore, the decision that we made, which is to stage an intervention, because you have to grab people by the scruff of the neck and say, listen, this is the number-one killer of children, and we want to do something about it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that's what we'll decide in this session.

QUEST: Today, it's critical. It's the final decision on which commercial to make, the boy who couldn't grow up, a fanciful approach, with a sad ending or learn from us, a series of harrowing real-life stories, also pretty grime.

JAUCHIUS: My judgment, which I think matches all of yours, is the boy balances that edge of being interventionist to get attention but it's approachable enough not to turn people off.

QUEST: He can't afford to get it wrong.

(on camera): Now, your marketing budget is what?

JAUCHIUS: We have measured media of about $350 million a year. It's all in the United States.

QUEST: So you've burned quite a good percentage of your media purchase in this?

JAUCHIUS: We invested a good amount of money.

(MUSIC)

(SHOUTING)

QUEST (voice-over): Less than a minute of air times requires two full days of filming on location. Every detail is closely scrutinized.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See how you did this top one?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is he always going to be in that spot or --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I think he's going to stand here.

QUEST: Worthy cause or not, this, unlike any other Super Bowl ad, is about protecting a brand.

JAUCHIUS: We're more than a business but we are a business. And we measure all of this rigorously and hold it up against the investment. Because we still have to make sure we spent the money in an effective way to get that message out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's beautiful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 60 seconds, we can probably bring more awareness than we have in 60 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's roll, please. Keep it locked.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: Hey, wait! Wait! I'll never learn to ride a bike or learn to fly or travel the world with my best friend. And I won't ever get married. I couldn't grow up because I died from an accident.

QUEST (on camera): It's an eye-watering amount of money.

JAUCHIUS: You reach an eye-watering number of people who are singularly engaged on your message.

ANNOUNCER: At Nationwide, we believe in protecting what matters most, your kids.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: We have been talking about this piece the entire -- Peter Shankman is here, a media consultant and also author.

Congratulations. "Using Great Service to Create Ravage fans."

We've been talking about this as we were watching the Richard Quest bit. The ad had me where they talked about cooties, and I'm like, where are they going with this?

PETER SHANKMAN, BRANDING AND SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTANT & AUTHOR: There's very little that can stop a Super Bowl party. I'm not sure what the connection was. And they had a wonderful win with the ad, 40 minutes earlier, which is great. Why did they take this back? It's like, here's the best thing we can do and now we're going to make everyone sad.

BALDWIN: And now you're associating Nationwide with children's death.

SHANKMAN: Yes. Nationwide is on your side, along with anguish and pain. Everyone comment, in no way, I'm going to buy Nationwide. This is too depressing.

BALDWIN: There were a lot of depressing, more serious -- it was dad- centric. I was touched by one some people said was depressing. The Nissan ad where you see the mother and the kid watching the race-car father and he gets out and he's OK.

(CROSSTALK)

SHANKMAN: It's the first time in a while we're seeing dads being mentioned. Product ads are really usually targeted towards the mom. It's nice to see dad get some play. It's nice to fathers get some play. They exist too. They are not just bumbling guys who cannot do a load of laundry.

BALDWIN: They do laundry well, I might add.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: What else did you love, did you hate?

SHANKMAN: I loved the Coca-Cola ad. I think it's really important to get the message about bullying out there.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: And then the hot chick came down the aisle.

SHANKMAN: At the very beginning, Chevy gave everyone in the country a heart attack.

(CROSSTALK)

SHANKMAN: I looked up and I was like, why would you do that?

(CROSSTALK)

SHANKMAN: Very effective ad.

BALDWIN: Peter Shankman, thanks so much.

SHANKMAN: My pleasure.

BALDWIN: I appreciate it. Rush back to your NYU class.

He's late because of me.

(LAUGHTER)

SHANKMAN: I'm on my way. BALDWIN: Next, "Sex, Drugs and Silicon Valley" all week long on this

show. We're taking a close look at the seedy underbelly of the tech world. Today, smart drugs, a widespread trend. Who uses them and why? Do not miss this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I am very excited about this next story. This is the first in a week-long series debuting on this show. We're calling it "Sex, Drugs and Silicon Valley." Today, our focus is on smart drugs, software developers, entrepreneurs who are taking pill performance to the next level.

Here's CNN's Laurie Segall.

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke. We got this idea from speaking to different folks. And I spoke to one in the valley who says everyone is taking smart drugs. Think about it as "Limitless," the movie. This is the pill that everyone is popping. Take a look. We have an inside look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SINGING)

SEGALL (voice-over): Harder, better, faster, stronger. It's not just a Kanye West song. It's also ethos in the tech world.

(MUSIC)

DAVE ASBURY, CEO, BULLETPROOF: I'll warn you, it doesn't taste great but it's worth it.

SEGALL (on camera): You take all of these? You put it in your hand and then just take them. Is that safe to do?

ASBURY: It's totally safe to do that. I look back to my college days where we had beer bongs. I have some of the most expensive pea on the planet.

SEGALL (voice-over): I know what you're thinking. This dude seems crazy. Honestly, I thought so, too. His name is Dave Asbury. He's the CEO of Bulletproof. He's an entrepreneur. And he's known for experimenting with drugs, the smart ones.

ASBURY: What I'm trying to do is age less quickly and, more importantly, I'm working on having the most energy and having a brain that works really, really well, because when I weighed 300 pounds, I was having really bad problems with brain fog. As an entrepreneur, that was a real problem.

SEGALL: That's combo he's downing, that's what's referred to as a stack, a collection of smart drugs, also called nutropics, aimed at aiding your brain. They can be anything, from a stimulant like coffee to a prescription drug. Nutropics, smart drugs, whatever you choose to call them, users say they enhance your brain and subsequently your body's performance. They have become a thing in the tech world, in part because of the high level of competition, in part because of the long hours, but it all boils down to this way of life called bio-hacking, this idea that we can control our own biology and we can program it to maximize results.

But it's hard to know how safe they are. People using these enhancers can suffer from side effects, headaches, insomnia, nausea, and many haven't been studied.

TIM FERRISS, ENTREPRENEUR AND INVESTOR: I've used every class of drug you can imagine. I've used -- the list goes on and on.

SEGALL: Tim's body is a living lab. He also practices bio-hacking, anything that can control or improve part of his body. He'll try. There are no limits.

(on camera): Here in the Silicon Valley, you are your own athlete. You're only as good as your mind. And smart drugs are a way that entrepreneurs are helping to achieve that marathon.

FERRISS: Just like an Olympic athlete who is willing to do almost anything, even if it shortens their life by five years to get a gold medal, you're going to think about what pills you can take because of the difference between making a million dollars and making a billion dollars is right here.

SEGALL: Let's look at 10, 15 years. If you have horrific side effects, will it have been worth it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have had some side effects. When I was developing a diet, I formed ketosis and developed food allergies that I didn't have before that. So things happen. But I had food allergies before that, just with different foods. So it was a relatively small risk.

If I do find out down the road that there are some side effects, will it have been worth it? Yes, it will have been worth it.

The quality of my life every day is so much higher now than it was 10 years ago that it's priceless.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SEGALL: And, Brooke, I was talking to him and he told me he would give me this magical stack.

And I kid you not, I have all of these here. He said all of these would help me improve my cognitive performance. Here's one to help me with aging. Thank you to Dave. I really appreciate that.

But he said that this magic combo would help me be at my best. Obviously, I'm a little bit skeptical. I haven't taken all of these yet. BALDWIN: Yes.

SEGALL: But this is something where the people in Silicon Valley, they know no limits. The body is the next pillar of exploration and people trying it out.

BALDWIN: I have so many more questions for you. We will do a quick video in a commercial break and we will put it on our social media feeds.

Quickly, what is coming up tomorrow?

SEGALL: Tomorrow, we have a look at psychedelics in the Valley.

BALDWIN: Wow.

SEGALL: We told to an entrepreneur who said all the billionaires are doing it. And we have got an inside look at that.

BALDWIN: Laurie Segall, thank you so much.

SEGALL: Thank you.

BALDWIN: We will see you tomorrow.