Conspiracy, Corporate Culture and Criticism

Abstract

Explores the relationship between contemporary corporate culture & recent attempts to criticize its increasing growth & influence. Naomi Klein's critique of corporate culture, No Logo (2000), is drawn on to shed light on how cultural corporatism creates a third culture comprising brand names, brand people, & brand-made media. It is argued that capitalist institutions have always been a major site for conspiracy theory, & consumers become part of corporate conspiracy practices by consuming mass-produced objects. Popular forms of conspiracy theory & their links with societal trends are examined to illustrate how they relate to critical engagements with corporate culture & its products. A discussion of how global corporate culture manages to subsume "subvertising" that attempts to undermine the corporate message maintains that even the efforts of "culture jammers" are being incorporated into marketing campaigns, as exemplified by Nike's "I am not/A target market/I am an athlete" campaign. It is contended that contemporary critiques of corporate influence as a form of colonization run into difficulties because they require remembering a time before the occupation. 23 References. J. Lindroth