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40 Ideas People Believe To Be Normal But Are Actually Propaganda Created By Corporations, According To Folks In This Online Group
It's not a secret to anyone that companies vastly care about money. Some are still interested in their consumers being satisfied with the products – others solely care about profits. Unfortunately, it is a massive problem in our society, and organizations have yet to overcome this issue.
Corporations will go out of their way to find a method of making even more pennies, and it's fascinating how nowadays we don't really question anything. For instance, one of the best examples would be commercials. Those endless ads you see on a website that don't allow you to binge-watch your favorite video in peace, practically forcing you to get that premium subscription – it's truly a brilliant technique.
Well, this online user took it to one of Reddit's popular communities to ask folks about certain things that might feel normal today, but are just successful propaganda made by companies. The thread received over 61K upvotes in just a few days and almost 40K comments debating over hugely influential business tactics.
More info: Reddit
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Immigrants are ‘taking’ our jobs, instead of employers seeking to pay criminally low wages to people with fewer choices.
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.
Working 5 days a week for 8 hours a day and still not being able to afford necessities.
What makes this worse is the fact it's the result of the very, very few at the top living in obscene luxury.
That global warming is the responsibility of the individual and not about 100 corporations.
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.
"Ask your doctor if JDGYRHKX is right for you!" WTF 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.
It's literally ONLY legal in the USA and New Zealand.
Load More Replies...A side effect of the law allowing pharmaceutical corporations to advertise in mass media -including a list of possible side effects- was that in 30 seconds commercials, more than half is devoted to mentioning scary things that will happen to you when taking the medication. I listened to people refusing to use an effective prescription due to the "horrible side effects" when such things are in the order of a fraction of one percent. This distortion is capitalized by the anti-vax, anti-science mob, as seen during the current pandemic. So, in the end, the vast amount of money spent on lobbyists and political contributions by big business pharma came back to bite them in the tail, and the whole society paid the consequences.
Love How Pharma Ads Have ONE Page Touting "Benefits".....And FIVE Of Warnings
It totally pisses me off that doctors aren't being blamed for "the opioid epidemic" too. WTF, a huge percentage of the pills that caused issues were either prescribed to the person or overprescribed to someone else so they had some to sell. But do doctors get blamed? Nope. They're the "good guys on the frontline". Twats.
another part of the problem is insurance companies. I called my insurance to ask what pain meds they covered for my chronic pain. My options were opioids only, despite the fact there were so many other non-opioids that would have worked for my pain they weren't covered by my insurance
Load More Replies...Why would any intelligent person take anything these companies say seriously? Many of the best-known pharmaceutical companies have been convicted of fraudulent practices and paid billions of dollars in fines—Merck, Pfizer, J&J, Astra Zeneca, Glaxo Smith Kline and others whose products probably grace your medicine cabinet. I am not about to ask my doctor. I trust her to know what I need, not some greedy drug company. They are in business for profit, so they want permanent patients. They aren't interested in helping people get healthy.
Ok, yes, this is somewhat parasitic, but doctors see you, prescribe something and then forget about you. You practicality need dynamite to get them to see the first attempt wasn't the answer
You should consider getting a new doctor. Mine calls me a week after prescribing something to see how I'm doing. I'm very aware of how lucky I am to have this level of care but I've never had that bad of and issue with my doctors (US and Canada) as far as being able to schedule a follow up when meds don't work.
Load More Replies...Read all the post here from fellow Americans, and still tout our country as , “The Greatest Country in the World.”
Not legal here so we didn’t have to put up with the Ozempic song
Lucky You ! I Take Ozempic But Didn't Know Of That Song. Thanks--New Earworm !
Load More Replies...I'm agreeing, yet there is some value in information. cause of ads and the internet i'm better able to discuss with my doctor as my mechanic or anyone doing a service or product.
If your doctor doesn't know the proper course of treatment to prescribe for you, you need a better doctor.
I suspect this is an American thing? They dont advertise meds like that on UK TV. Occasionally, and this is by no means a regular event, you'll get a suggested product to ask the chemist about but this is far and few inbetween. and its usually something that is cheaper than say a more popular brand version of the meds.
It used to be illegal for them to advertise. I wish we would go back to that idea.
As far as I know North America is the only place that makes this legal and it is b******t
Pharmaceutical companies are truly the epitomy of greed and unmitigated evil.
I agree with this to a degree. They should be able to advertise on websites or magazines dedicated to medical things in my opinion. I think it's important to know about treatment options when talking to your Dr. However I shouldn't have to see them all the time when I'm trying to watch a show or movie
I took some JDGYRHKX and had awful side-effects, it's dreadful stuff. No, hang on, perhaps that was alphabetti-spaghetti!
I'll just remind everyone that when we made corpos be responsible for thier employees health care n pensions America was on top. Once the US government started caring more about money and not people that's exactly when the whole thing started unraveling. Corporate greed gets cut if n watch how fast things get fixed. It's really easy all we have to do is cut off Pelosi n cut off McConnell n send a fing message to our politicians that we will no longer tolerate corruption. Im all for it. Ive got answers to all our problems n my answers would fix the country in a month. Yes im serious yes I really mean it. I could fix it all if given the opportunity. And yes with real actual solid grounded plans that would make all ame7cans lives better.
It's all tied in with health insurance & corporate owned hospitals/clinics/doctor's offices. We get bombarded by ads for pharmaceuticals & advised to "see your doctor". It's all about the money. All these companies want everyone going to the doctor as much as possible to sell their product. Then when you get side effects from 1 drug, the doctor prescribes a 2nd drug for those. Then a 3rd drug for the side effects from the 2nd drug, and on and on and on. But the insurance won't cover all those drugs, so more money is coming out of your pocket. Screw them. I'll take an aspirin for a headache, but I don't need a bunch of laboratory chemicals for every little ache & pain. I haven't seen a doctor in over 20 years, and I don't plan to unless I'm collapsed on the floor!
In many countries it is not legal to promote a prescribed drug on tv, newspapers,etc.
It was illegal then add revinue started drying up so one yr they just announced it was now legal to air commercials for prescription drugs and hard alcohol. I think it has in the early 90s
Many doctors have been responsible, others have been lazy. A former friend of mine was prescribed over 250 pills of powerful opioids every month. It filled a mason jar 3/4 of the way full. He'd run out before the next month. It's awful. I have major pain from an autoimmune disorder.
Load More Replies...Oh right. And there's no such thing as the internet. If you seriously think that demanding medication that you saw in advertisement makes you informed about your health, I feel very sorry for you.
Load More Replies... Dandelions are weeds. They’re actually very nutritious and great for pollinators. Big Grass are a bunch of d**kheads
Technically, weeds don't exist at all. Where I live, they've now been rebranded to "wild flowers and plants" and are actively being handed out to plant everywhere because, as it turns out, bees are better off with more of these types of plants than they are with the garden varieties. Or so I've been told.
Attaching health insurance to your job and if you have a family and leave your job, you're f**ked.
I never understood why/how this started in the US. I don't think anywhere else in the world has it tied to their job.
Sugar industry blaming fatty foods for obesity, sparking the low-fat trends and ignoring how bad sugar is for your health.
Politicians being a middleman for corporations to influence government policies, instead of middlemen for the people to influence government policies.
The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court practically guaranteed that this would happen. Equating corporate money with free speech was one of the most destructive legal decisions in the last 100 years.
Planned obsolescence
So some company, many years ago, made nylon stockings. All the workers were given a pair for their wives to try out. They discontinued making the same stockings, because they were high quality and never wore out, so these ladies never had to buy new pairs. They purposely made crappier ones after that. A lot of companies are doing it and it should be illegal. Not only because of the morality, but also because of the toll it takes on our environment to create (and have to transport and put to waste) 10x time amount of stuff that would otherwise be necessary
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.
And they ship them off to poorer countries to handle because 'we don't have those capabilities'.
Everything about wedding and engagement rings
Everything about weddings, imho. Such a con. I played in a wedding band a couple weeks ago. We were paid obscene money. I overheard a woman explaining to a friend that she and her fiance had saved $30k toward their wedding and therefore were about halfway there. I just find spending that on a one-day party to be absurd, I wouldn't expect someone to drop 30k just to show they love me. Good gods, just tell each other you love each other and put the money towards a house
Buying bottled tap water.
Yes! I can only see the point if it's an area where the tap water is undrinkable.
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?
Because unions fought to get the work week down to 40 hours. Corporations wanted you to work 12 hour days seven days a week.
Diamonds.
Real men eat meat.
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.
I found my dads mum and family this way, no regrets and I’m a nobody, they can keep my dna 😂
That it is ok to produce a ton of single-use packaging as long as you don’t “litter” it.
I really wish the government would bring in regulations to limit the use of single use packaging. They banned plastic shopping bags of a certain thickness, but have not gone any further. (In Australia)
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.
"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.
US is weird. The government already has all your information. In most countries people don't need to file taxes every year, unless they own a business.
Women shaving. In the US, Women shaving any part their bodies wasn’t even a thing before WWII, but all the men got drafted to war and razor companies took a big hit, so they successfully convinced all of us that natural hair growing anywhere out of a woman’s body besides her hair and eyebrows is disgusting.
I’m talking specifically about western culture/the United States. Evidence of ancient Greeks and Egyptians/etc shaving has no relevance in this instance.
There was also the fact that there were silk and nylon shortages during the war, so women's legs were on show so unshaven legs were noticeable. Then of course you had the swimwear fashion changing in the 60s+ and more skin was seen. The swimwear companies wouldn't show models with bikini lines in their ads, so razor companies profited from this too.
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.
Years ago one company hid a prize in the terms and conditions that you only got if you read them.) It had instructions to claim the prize.) It might have been Apple, anybody remember that? I don't think that would happen today because the trick would be blasted on social media and defeat the incentive to read them.
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.
what does "c**p" means? English isn't my first language and slang isn't my strong suit.
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!
Buying a diamond ring when you propose
100% agree. Pointless. Use the money for something important and worthwhile. Down payment on something..or an emergency fund. A year after I was proposed to we sold the ring. He didn't pay for it so we just profited off it. Never regretted it.
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.
I don't want anything shop bought for Mother's Day, I couldn't care less - I live getting handmade cards from my kids, breakfast in bed and having them take over for a day - zero money involved, ideal day for me to sit and relax
An entire nurdle of toothpaste on your brush.
You don't need that much. A pea-sized amount is enough.
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
This could have been the perfect place for this 'I make 123000$/month'-b******t..
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.
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.
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.
That is just using the business rule of supply and demand...In this instance they have to create a demand and pretend that the supply is low in order to justify the higher costs...
Carrots helping you see in the dark was WW2 propaganda to confuse the Germans.
Carrots contain beta carotene which is metabolized into vitamin A, which is important in proper functioning of the eyes. One of the first signs of Vitamin A deficiency is night blindedness. So I guess it's not that far-fetched, although carrots won't give you night vision :)
“You should pay off debt by getting more debt!”
Think thees been some confusion/conflation of propaganda and scam.
I am commenting on this post. Thank you in advance for your reading of my comment.
Thanks for the pleasure of reading your comment!
Load More Replies...Shampoo! Consumer care companies pushed the idea that you need to do two washes, and later that you should wash it every day. Actually a disaster for long, curly or dyed hair, but it sells a lot of product.
The money I save on shampoo I end up spending on razors.
Load More Replies...Shampoo and all the other things you need (conditioner, styling products etc) because you f**k your hair up with shampoo.
What do you suggest we wash our hair with? If not shampoo, seriously
Load More Replies...What a crappy boring article, come on show a bit more effort. Usual woke s**t
I disagree with almost all of these. No one is forcing anyone to do most of these things. Stupid article written by broke people.
A lot of these are things society has accepted at a level that individuals can't really choose to avoid them without signing consequences despite them inherently doing more harm than good. I think the list is awfully trite, but I don't think most of these are just things it would be reasonable to expect people to ignore.
Load More Replies...Think thees been some confusion/conflation of propaganda and scam.
I am commenting on this post. Thank you in advance for your reading of my comment.
Thanks for the pleasure of reading your comment!
Load More Replies...Shampoo! Consumer care companies pushed the idea that you need to do two washes, and later that you should wash it every day. Actually a disaster for long, curly or dyed hair, but it sells a lot of product.
The money I save on shampoo I end up spending on razors.
Load More Replies...Shampoo and all the other things you need (conditioner, styling products etc) because you f**k your hair up with shampoo.
What do you suggest we wash our hair with? If not shampoo, seriously
Load More Replies...What a crappy boring article, come on show a bit more effort. Usual woke s**t
I disagree with almost all of these. No one is forcing anyone to do most of these things. Stupid article written by broke people.
A lot of these are things society has accepted at a level that individuals can't really choose to avoid them without signing consequences despite them inherently doing more harm than good. I think the list is awfully trite, but I don't think most of these are just things it would be reasonable to expect people to ignore.
Load More Replies...