In the mind of many modern day companies, the line between looking good for your date and drugging your date to think you look good is so often blurred.  Companies have no problem offering false hope, misinformation, and actually brainwashing you to change your eating habits in order to consume their products regularly.

But remember – knowledge is power.  By understanding what these companies are doing, you put yourself a step ahead and can live a healthier and less wasteful life.

So, without any further ado, the hall of shame:

#1 – Soft drink companies – Do you chug soft drinks?  Why?  They taste good, why not savor it?  Because the companies have told you that they quench your thirst when they do not.  If you really want to enjoy a coke when you’re thirsty, drink some water, then when you’re not shoving liquid down your throat because of an intense thirst, drink your coke.  You’ll actually have time to enjoy the flavor.

#2 – Anything for children – You know what I loved about Wall-E?  It was the fact that I was hearing a strong message against consumerism from Disney.  And of course this message made it clearly onto every Wall-E toy, towel, lunch box, poster, and DVD.  Advertising towards children employs one simple strategy – to make your kids annoy you.  Studies show that the more your kids annoys you, the more likely you are to buy them stuff.  You need to take a firm strategy in teaching your child to get over whims and the need to buy.  At the same time, realize that the child is being brainwashed and put into a painful dilemma.  Only by working as a family can you overcome consumerism and teach your children for their financial future as well as yours.

#3 – News corporations – News sites no longer deliver the news.  They exist to group demographics in order to make it easy on advertisers.  But it really gets dangerous when the News corporations start letting their advertisers determine the news.  When I was looking for a job, I was interviewed by easynet, an SEO company in Herzeliya.  This company claimed that they actually write articles for ynet that tie in the advertisers’ message into the reviews on the site for marketing purposes.  But to be honest, ynet is not alone; most news outlets engage in similar deceptive practices.  The only way to determine the true news is to make the following equation:  Reported news – company bias (grouped demographic) – effect of advertisers = actual news.  For example, CNN reporting – liberal bias – any credibility about high-tech gadgets = actual news.  Also, FOX – conservative bias – any credibility about how *important* it is to now you credit score now = actual news.

#4 – FOREX companies – In business school we were told to play a FOREX game where we had to trade currencies and “pay” a percentage fee for every transaction.  Over 90% of the class had “lost” big money within a few short weeks.  FOREX sites promise big payoff for chances that are significantly worse than blackjack.  At least in blackjack, you gamble what you have and loose your money at a normal pace, in FOREX sites, your money can be leveraged so that you will loose it up to ten times faster.  I cannot stress how important it is to stay out of this market.  FOREX is gambling, with all the bells and whistles of addiction.  If anyone you know is involved in this dangerous market, please plan an intervention before he or she loose all of his or her life savings.