Great Advertising

The basic rule is do not buy anything that is advertised on TV. The annual budgets can run into the hundred of millions of dollars. The more advertising you see, the more determined you should be to never buy that product. It's a form of brainwashing, that puts these brand names into your subconscious. Unfortunately with the rise of social media there are more inciduous forms of persuasion. In all cases the products have over inflated prices and represent poor value for money. Major brands that you think you should be able to trust are generally the worst. Ingredients may cause cancer, be made using exploitation or generally be of inferior quality.

Monsanto

Over the past century, the company has been behind some intentionally harmful chemical products, including DDT, PCBs, and Agent Orange — a herbicide used extensively in Vietnam that has been blamed for 400,000 deaths and half a million birth defects. The use of DDT and PCBs was banned in the 1970s. Yet, they went on to worse things, with their disastrous GMO project. Playing with nature was never a great idea, and certainly has dangers. DNA strands are cultured in a bacterium and inserted into the host plant’s nucleus using a virus. Does that sound safe? Most GMO plants produced today are those that allow for resistance to a specific herbicide – Monsanto’s Roundup. The plants do not die, but they soak up the glyphosate based weed killer and that is what we consume.

The biggest danger is that they are driven by get rich quick investors. Depletion of soil quality, and of water levels are a ticking bomb that will go off for our next generation. In the context of climate change, having everythng optimised to a certain climate is risky strategy.

Nestlé

This scandal started in the 1970s when when Nestle was accused of getting third world mothers hooked on formula, which is less healthy and more expensive than breast milk. The benefits of breast feeding were well understood, yet dubious methods were used to persuade mother's the contrary, including sending sales women dressed in nurses uniforms to people homes. Often the powder was diluted with contaminated water and using too much water because the mother's could not afford it. The result was that millions of babies died from malnutrition. Infant growth in general was affected, with all the emotional and physical benefits of breast feeding being lost. Nestlé has never apologised for their actions. In fact, the opposite; they sued "War on Want", the charity that exposed them. There was a boycot and an ongoing battle, which for me will never end.

Facebook

Social media giants are around to make money, period. Google say at least that they will "do no harm", but that is a long way from any desire to make positive change. Let's be clear, it is not a public service. Search results are often dubious, fueled by who is paying them, not by what you want find. It's a big boy monopoly where law makers have little understanding or influence. Stories that work well are often fakes news, or aimed at amplifying political and social divisions. During 2016 US elections Facebook was paid some $100,000 for ads connected to 470 inauthentic Facebook pages that were likely operated out of Russia. There was influence in the Brexit outcome, another close run vote. Young people are especially vulnerable to being manipulated, by some consumerist agenda, making the strive to emulate, air brushed lifestyles that are far from reality.

The film "Social Network" which charts Zuckerburg's ignominious beginnings has the most hilarious opening scene where he is dumped by his girlfriend.