Growing Cannabis to Fight Exploitation
In the early years of cannabis prohibition, agricultural workers in the western United States used the plant to treat pain and supplement family incomes.
How Body Positivity Coexists with Fat Shaming
Retail workers at a plus-size clothing store had to promote the contradictory messages that every body is beautiful and that being fat is bad.
When Scientific Management Came to Japan
Japanese workers, many of them women, worked up to 17 hours a day in the early 20th century. Yet experts still wondered why they “wasted” time.
How Toothpaste Got Scientific Cred
Would you brush with a toothpaste for the sweet taste alone or because of its touted health benefits? The answer wasn't always so obvious.
Selling Hedonism in Postwar America
The hedonism of American consumer culture is the result of deliberate efforts by mid-twentieth century marketing experts.
Is Multi-Level Marketing Really Just a Pyramid Scheme?
Offering products as their main revenue base allows MLMs to operate legally, but they often have fundamentally the same ethical issues as pyramid schemes.
Who Was Elsie, besides the World’s Most Famous Cow?
In the Great Depression, Borden sought a new spokescow to help preserve its traditional agrarian image.
Only You Can Prevent Useless Gifts
Is it time for a revival of the Society for the Prevention of Useless Giving (SPUG)?
