ABSTRACT
This first chapter examines how corporate marketers have stalked and groomed us for over a century, and stated their intentions and motives in brutally direct terms. How the early capitalists referred to us as “the masses”, who can be “manipulated” and sets up corporate business as the “invisible government” and “true ruling power”. Since then their methods have grown increasingly sophisticated and pervasive to ensure our demand always outstrips their supply. And they have succeeded: our consumption behaviour is completely out of control. But they are also failing for the most basic of reasons: the planet is rapidly running out of shopping opportunities. The natural world is telling us to stop, and we have to listen.
