An evil corporation is a trope in popular culture that portrays a corporation as ignoring social responsibility, morality, ethics, and sometimes laws in order to make profit for its shareholders.[1] In rare cases, the corporation may be well intentioned but extremist, engaging in noble cause corruption.
In fiction
editThe notion is "deeply embedded in the landscape of contemporary culture—populating films, novels, videogames, and more." The science fiction genre served as the initial background to portray corporations in this dystopian light.[1]
Evil corporations can be seen to represent the danger of combining capitalism with larger hubris.[2]
Some notable uses of the trope include Arasaka Corporation in the Cyberpunk franchise, Atlas Corporation in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Weyland-Yutani in the Alien franchise, InGen in the Jurassic Park franchise, Resources Development Administration in the Avatar franchise, Umbrella Corporation in Resident Evil, East India Trading Company in Pirates of the Caribbean, and E-Corp in Mr. Robot.
Real-world usage
editSome real-world corporations have been accused of being evil. To guard against such accusations, Google once adopted the official motto "Don't be evil", although whether it was ever truly followed was a matter of debate - critics accused the company of "evil" acts such as secret data collection and violating customers' privacy, and political bias.[1][3] The motto was eventually moved to the very end of its code of conduct, then removed entirely.[4] The New Yorker wrote that "many food activists consider Monsanto (which later merged with Bayer) to be the definitively evil corporation".[5]
The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility wrote, "For many consumers, Wal-Mart serves as the evil corporation prototype, but record numbers shop at the stores for low prices."[6]
In Japan, a committee of journalists and rights activists issues an annual "corporate raspberry award" known as Most Evil Corporation of the Year Award (also called the Black Company Award) to a company "with a culture of overwork, discrimination and harassment".[7]
After the shooting of Brian Thompson in December 2024, many Americans took to social media to express their outrage against health insurance companies and the American healthcare system overall - often using terms associated with the trope to describe aformentioned corporations.[8][9][10][11]
See also
edit- Anti-capitalism
- Anti-consumerism
- Anti-corporate activism
- Big Pharma conspiracy theory
- Business ethics
- Corporate crime
- Corporate warfare
- Criticism of capitalism
- Criticisms of corporations
- Cyberpunk
- Human rights § Corporations
- Karen Silkwood
- List of corporate collapses and scandals
- Megacorporation
- Military–industrial complex
- Multinational corporation
- Organized crime
- Prison–industrial complex
- Psychopathy in the workplace
- Shareholder primacy
- State crime
- State-corporate crime
- The Corporation (2003 film)
References
edit- ^ a b c Allan, Angela (April 25, 2016). "How the 'Evil Corporation' Became a Pop-Culture Trope". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
- ^ McHenry, Jackson (August 26, 2015). "Mr. Robot's Chilling Message: Every Corp Is E Corp". GQ. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
- ^ Thompson, Cadie (2014-08-19). "Does 'Don't be evil' still apply to Google?". CNBC. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
- ^ Conger, Kate (18 May 2018). "Google Removes 'Don't be Evil' Clause from Its Code of Conduct". Gizmodo.
- ^ Specter, Michael (November 4, 2013). "Why the climate corporation sold itself to Monsanto". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
- ^ Kendall, Brenden E.; Gill, Rebecca; Cheney, George (2007). "Consumer Activism and Corporate Social Responsibility: How Strong a Connection?". In May, Steven K.; Cheney, George (eds.). The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility. Oxford University Press. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-19-517883-8.
- ^ Kikuchi, Daisuke (December 23, 2016). "Ad giant Dentsu declared Most Evil Corporation of the Year". The Japan Times. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
- ^ Yancey-Bragg, Ken Alltucker, Jeanine Santucci and N'dea. "Health insurance CEO shooting unleashes Internet vitriol aimed at industry". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Trethan, Phaedra. "UnitedHealth CEO: 'We understand people's frustrations' with health care system". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
- ^ "Anger After UnitedHealthcare CEO's Killing Rattles Health Insurance Workers". 2024-12-12. Archived from the original on 2024-12-13. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
- ^ Fields, Ashleigh (2024-12-13). "UnitedHealth CEO acknowledges frustrations with health care system". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-12-16.
Further reading
edit- Decker, Mark T. (2016). "Ridley Scott Takes On Apparently Evil Corporations in Alien, Blade Runner, and Prometheus". Industrial Society and the Science Fiction Blockbuster: Social Critique in Films of Lucas, Scott and Cameron. McFarland. pp. 74–110. ISBN 978-0-7864-9911-3.
- Sloane, S.B. (2002). Organizations in the Movies: The Legend of the Dysfunctional System. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-2434-3.