Corporations will do just about anything to make a few extra bucks. If that means making up fake scientific studies, or simply paying off politicians to look the other way, big companies have the power and resources to do just about anything they want.

So to better help you navigate this world of corporate aristocracy, here are some things to look out for.

The lie, in the US at least, that billionaires and CEOs are self made men and women. Most wealth in this country is inherited and most who claim to be "self made" were already born into wealthy families.

That global warming is the responsibility of the individual and not about 100 corporations.

Sugar industry blaming fatty foods for obesity, sparking the low-fat trends and ignoring how bad sugar is for your health.

Working 5 days a week for 8 hours a day and still not being able to afford necessities.

Referring to insurance as "healthcare"Insurance companies do not provide healthcare. They have inserted themselves as middlemen. Physicians, nurses, etc. provide healthcare. Insurance provide payment for costs that are inflated because insurance companies provide payment.

Unpaid internships. They should be banned

Attaching health insurance to your job and if you have a family and leave your job, you're f**ked.

"Ask your doctor if JDGYRHKX is right for you!" Wait, isn't that his job? I don't ask my mechanic or plumber if I need a certain product. Pharmaceutical marketing is a total ruse.

Logo T-Shirts. The consumer literally pays to advertise a brand.

Dandelions are weeds. They’re actually very nutritious and great for pollinators. Big Grass are a bunch of d**kheads

Everything about wedding and engagement rings

Politicians being a middleman for corporations to influence government policies, instead of middlemen for the people to influence government policies.

That it is ok to produce a ton of single-use packaging as long as you don’t “litter” it.

Plastics Recycling. It was pushed by the plastics industry back in the early 70s when laws were about to be passed to deal with the environmental impact of plastics. In reality a lot of the plastics that have a little recycling symbol on them are not feasible to recycle at all.They are still pushing the lie to this very day.

Planned obsolescence

Immigrants are ‘taking’ our jobs, instead of employers seeking to pay criminally low wages to people with fewer choices.

Buying bottled tap water.

That cost of printer ink.

Sending your DNA in for sequencing is a fun and easy way to find out things about yourself, at least according to companies who contractually retain the rights to any and all findings, don't give a s**t about your medical privacy, and are constantly looking for ways to monetize that information.

Terms of service agreements example when you buy a phone do you read all 30 pages of your service agreement letting you know that they have basically proprietary control over everything you say and do.

Most products made for the care of babies. Babies need very little in the way of furniture, gear, special foods etc. But people are so willing to buy so much stuff.

Monoculture grass lawns.

The whole work grind and everything associated with it. 40+ hour work week, health insurance tied to it, the need for daycare $$$, time spent commuting…how did all that ever become normal?

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day" was a marketing campaign used by Kellogs to help sell their cereal.

Companies like Intuit have lobbied to make sure filing taxes can't be free and easy.

Mothers Day. The original intent was to have a holiday to appreciate mothers, corporations ended up making it a big money grab, and then the person who petitioned for mothers day spent the rest of their life trying to get the holiday removed.

That diamonds are forever.. as in indestructible.

COMMERCIALS. they’re everywhere, YouTube, TV, Hulu, Spotify, etc. the only way to get rid of commercials is to, surprise surprise, pay more which is ANOTHER commercial. Just now realizing that commerce is the basis of commercial lol

That you need to drink milk in order to get calcium. Calcium is a mineral and can be found in leafy greens and broccoli to name a couple. The whole, “got milk?” campaigns and all that were funded by the dairy industry. Pretty successful propaganda!

An entire curdle of toothpaste on your brush. You don't need that much. A pea-sized amount is enough.

The way we celebrate holidays is much more of a production than it used to be - Christmas, Halloween, Valentine’s Day. Just more excuses to consume c**p en masse.

Credit Ratings

Buying a diamond ring when you propose

Apple. Whoever is behind the apple marketing campaign is a genius and flooding the consumers with propaganda. There's no real correlation between how many apples you eat each a day and how often you visit the doctor or get sick

People eating KFC during Christmas time in Japan because of KFC's marketing campaign that promoted their products as a traditional Western Christmas treat.

Carrots helping you see in the dark was WW2 propaganda to confuse the Germans.

Merch drops, secret popup locations, limited runs, etc.These are just marketing tactics to create Artificial Scarcity and hype/demand that wouldn't be there otherwise.

Not discussing your income with coworkers. At least in the US, employees are protected, so they are allowed to discuss income amongst each other without fear of getting fired for it. However, a lot of companies have kept the idea that it is taboo or that your job may be at risk for doing so and a lot of people still buy it to this day.Yes, most people that live in the US know that all states (except Montana) are "at-will" states, meaning that they can fire you for no reason at all, meaning that while technically they won't fire you for discussing pay, some companies will not like it and find any excuse to let you go, so keep that in mind.Also, some companies will try to stop if right off the bat by having it in your employee handbook that you are not to discuss pay, so make sure you check that out in your case. My company actually has the opposite, stating that they will never go after someone for discussing pay, and they even have it posted in public areas. However, I'm not naive and understand that while it may seem that way, they can just be doing that to protect themselves, so who knows. I've been there for a few years now and we have not heard of anyone getting fired for anything that could be even remotely related to pay discussions.The point of my comment was to let people know that the idea of discussing your pay with other employees being a "no-no" or taboo is an antiquated idea started by greedy companies decades ago to help keep the average worker from demanding better wages that they rightfully should be getting in the first place, and that legally they can't outright fire you simply for doing that (with exceptions, of course). I myself have no issues letting anyone know how much I make if they ask, and if they use that to get themselves properly compensated, then I'm happy for them at the end of the day.

Someone mentioning diamonds reminds me of """""chocolate""""" diamonds.What are they in actuality? Industrial diamonds (if I remember correctly) that are more common and/or less 'nice' than normal rocks, but clever marketing has convinced some women that they're "exotic".

I think I heard the food pyramid is a scam