Thank you for this comment and the analysis. This really resonates with me. I think a lot of people look at capitalism as “two people agree to an exchange”, but

Thank you for this comment and the analysis. This really resonates with me. I think a lot of people look at capitalism as “two people agree to an exchange”, but it goes so much farther than that. Brands matter, which I think is always true, but the importance of branding has become so inflated that we have decided to needlessly manufacture and discard plastic containers en masse just to keep that branding going. And why? My shampoo bottle says “strong hair for a strong woman” or something. What the fuck? Marketers have to manufacture fantasies that have nothing to do with their products and we all live with that like its normal. Brands do matter. A company that cares about its workers needs some way to be recognized so that consumers can support them, etc. but somehow we’ve taken branding to such an extreme that we will throw away mountains of single use plastic just to keep that train rolling. We’ve got to find a better way.