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3. Shop ‘til you pop Frito Lay’s website currently lists 41 variations in flavor and ridge type within American market options. On consumption made possible by over-consumption: The recent obesity epidemic in America has created new market niches. In 1998, entrepreneur William Labrey opened his online franchise Amplestuff, which sells products—such as the mechanical sounding ‘sock installer’ or larger umbrellas—that accommodate the needs of severely overweight individuals. Their uber-American company motto is ‘Make the world fit you!’ As one journalist notes, “American celebrates big as a constitutional right. Starbucks built its empire selling coffee in three sizes: big, bigger, and bigger still.”
4. One of America’s most influential advocacy groups for safeguarding customer satisfaction is the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF). Funded by the food, alcohol, and tobacco industries, CCF defines its mission as fighting against “a growing cabal of food cops, health care enforcers, militant activists, meddling bureaucrats, and violent radicals who think they know what’s best for you, [who] are pushing against our basic freedoms.” Another memorable quote: In a 2002 San Francisco Chronicle article, a CCF spokesman identified the organizations enemies as “just about every consumer and environmental group, chef, legislator or doctor who raises objections to things like pesticide use, genetic engineering of crops or antibiotic use in beef and poultry.” |
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It is interesting to note, for instance, that in Wal-Mart’s factories in China employees work as many as 80 hours a week for as little as $75 a month. Though this is in violation of Chinese labor laws, Wal-Mart has rejected more stringent inspection measures because this would increase monitoring expenses and, in turn, raise the cost of products. This would conflict with Wal-Mart’s promise to the American consumer of ‘everyday low prices.’5
America considers the Declaration of Independence to be the moment we took up the torch. In a speech announcing his presidential intentions in 1974, Governor Ronald Reagan invoked that enduring American notion: “The leadership of the free world was thrust upon us two centuries ago in that little hall in Philadelphia.” The sad paradox that has since developed is this: We have helped innumerable countries draft their Declarations of Independence. We have also, in rabidly pursuing— and protecting—our consumer co-opted ‘freedom of choice,’ systematically increased dependence throughout the world.
The same day as Black Friday, the lives of a comparable number of people as those in the Volusia County Wal-Mart riot were disrupted. On November 26th, 2005, Papua New Guinea announced that it would
