If you’ve been on social media, watched TV or YouTube, or really been exposed to any kind of advertising, you may have noticed a trend in how companies market themselves and interact with people. Whether it’s the Wendy’s Twitter account making an “epic clapback”, things like Amazon’s “Alexa”, or Chase Bank going all in on gay “pride” month, companies want you to think of them like a friend. They want to look like they share the same values as you, can act like you, talk like you, and–most important–sell you stuff you absolutely need.
Maybe you think that this trend is a good thing, and that’s cool. Empty that wallet and swallow it whole, what do I care who takes the sinker with the bait? Whether you like it or not, this happens and will continue, and it is raising a populace that puts a lot of trust in multi-national corporate entities that see them as just $/€/¥. And when a company does something questionable or bad, they are surprised. “[Company] would never [human rights violation]! Their Twitter is so cool and hip!” Corporations are not people, and corporations are not your friend.
A Well Known Example:
You’ve probably heard of Nestle, and you probably know they sell bottled water and some food products. But they sell a lot more than water, as seen below. You may even be using or consuming a Nestle product right now.
Besides owning a whole bunch of crap, another thing Nestle loves to do is claim that water is not a human right. And a whole lot of other messed up stuff, which you can conveniently read in this article right here: https://www.zmescience.com/science/nestle-company-pollution-children
But ask anyone at Nestle and they’ll tell you how great of a company they are, how they care for the environment and sustainability and–right on their website–how they protect human rights.
Not An Isolated Event
All of this to say in short long form, a company will do whatever it can and pander to whoever it can to try and elevate itself in the public eye and erase or at least minimize past (and current!) “misdeeds”. As another example, here’s Coca-Cola’s Super Bowl commercial from 2018, focused on “inclusion”, “diversity” and any other buzzwords you can throw in.
How sweet, Coke really does care about us all!
Unless you’re a South American worker in their bottling plants and you try to form a labor union. Then good ol’ Coca-Cola brings out the paramilitary death squad and “takes care of the issue“.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/jul/24/marketingandpr.colombia
Conclusion ?
So what’s the point, why does it matter, what do you do? Good question, do what you want. But be skeptical of why companies say certain things, or promote certain things. Not everything is the selfless and charitable act it seems.
I should add, this is all not to say “grrr, capitalism bad”. Capitalism good, actually. But some people who have money and power want more money and power, and do bad things, so watch out for yourself.
And remember, corporations are not people, but they are made up of people, and are controlled by certain people.
And those people have names and addresses. Something to think about.