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
The 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]
Real-world usage
Some 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]
^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.
ISBN978-0-19-517883-8.
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.
ISBN978-0-7864-9911-3.
Sloane, S.B. (2002). Organizations in the Movies: The Legend of the Dysfunctional System. University Press of America.
ISBN978-0-7618-2434-3.