Top 10 Conspiracy Theories About Companies

A company takes control of the world’s water supply, creates a monopoly, and sells the water for exorbitant prices. Sounds like the plot of a devious James Bond villain. In fact, they did pretty much just that in “Quantum of Solace.” It’s also the heart of a Nestlé conspiracy theory, with some believing that the company is buying up the world’s water for their own greedy purposes. The company has faced numerous controversies surrounding its bottling practices, and according to Earth Island, they made over $5 billion from the sale of bottled water in 2018. According to the conspiracy theorists, it’s only a matter of time before the groundwater becomes theirs, and then we’re all in trouble.

Those alive in the ‘80s and ‘90s will remember well the Satanic Panic that gripped the nation in a fever of paranoia. Put simply, the Devil was everywhere, and everything from metal music to “Dungeons & Dragons” was accused of impressing children with Satanic beliefs. Even Procter & Gamble was in league with the Devil! In March of 1980, an article was published in The Minneapolis Tribune arguing that the company’s logo contained Satanic imagery. P&G vehemently denied the claim and even fought back by filing several lawsuits. The rumor grew so widespread that even the Church of Satan got involved and publicly denied that Procter & Gamble was associated with them. But that’s just what they want you to think…

Is the world composed of independent but interconnected governments, or is it controlled by a secret cabal of elites who are pulling all the strings? Some people believe it’s the latter, and if you ask them, those puppet masters are veering us toward a New World Order. The Great Reset Initiative earned particular attention in 2020 when the World Economic Forum suggested a financial and societal rebuild in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some think that the WEF had nefarious purposes, suggesting that the proposed reset was a means to take complete control. Some even take the theory further, stating that the WEF will collapse the world’s economy, sending everyone into destitution while implanting them with microchips via mandatory vaccines.

Some companies are hit with wild and, just maybe, fun conspiracy theories. Others are accused of funding terrorism. You never know what you’re gonna get. A conspiracy theory from the 1980s posited that McDonald’s was secretly funding the Provisional Irish Republican Army, a paramilitary force responsible for killing over 1,700 people, including hundreds of civilians. But despite the dark nature of the theory, its source is actually quite lighthearted. It was eventually traced to a CNN talk show in which the company was praised for its funding of Individual Retirement Accounts. Someone mistook financial IRAs for the IRA, and the rest is history.

With new technology comes new conspiracy theories. As home automation becomes increasingly normalized, people grow increasingly concerned that these companies are listening in. At the forefront of this theory is Amazon and their virtual assistant Alexa. Alexa has been the target of some genuine privacy concerns and grander conspiracy theories, with some believing that Amazon is recording our private conversations and selling the information to third parties. Basically, there’s a spy in everyone’s home, and it’s sitting right on their bedside table. Fortunately, that’s not how Alexa works. Yes, it is always listening, but that’s only to hear the command. It doesn’t “activate” and record until it hears the specific wake word. Fear not and talk freely - Alexa is not eavesdropping on you.

A holding company based out of Ukraine, Burisma controlled the country’s natural gas market until its dissolution in 2023. The company has a direct link to Hunter Biden, who joined the board in 2014. This partnership became an integral focus of Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, as they hoped to discredit Hunter’s father, Joe Biden, in the public eye. Trump’s team spread misinformation claiming that Joe Biden protected Hunter by preventing a corruption investigation into Burisma. The story was widely disseminated but completely unfounded. Following numerous investigations, officials found no evidence of a cover-up, and impeachment proceedings against Trump were immediately launched.

It’s no secret that Facebook is interfering in politics. Whether it’s the wide spreading of misinformation (see the Biden story) or personalized political ads, there is some degree of manipulation going on. Some even suggest that Google has a blatant anti-conservative stance and that it actively suppresses conservative outlets. But a more nefarious theory exists, and that’s that Big Tech - specifically Google and Facebook - are actively interfering in global elections. This is perhaps best represented by the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, which saw personal data being stolen and analyzed for the purpose of political advertising. Just how far does the manipulation go?

Some conspiracy theories just don’t make a whole lot of sense, and this is one of them. On April 20, 2010, the oil rig Deepwater Horizon suffered a massive blowout, resulting in a devastating fire that destroyed the rig and killed eleven people. It was also a catastrophic environmental disaster, spilling over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. According to political commentator Rush Limbaugh, this explosion was not an accident, but a planned event orchestrated by “environmental whackos” to prevent further ocean drilling. Naturally, this theory has no basis in reality, and the idea of environmentalists destroying a rig and spilling oil into the water is just mind-bogglingly absurd.

It’s a tale as old as time. Well, as old as Apple. The company intentionally slows older iPhones to the point that they are no longer usable and need to be replaced. And while it’s true that Apple has slowed phones in the past, the truth of this has been widely misconstrued. Basically, as the software gets updated, older phones can’t keep up with the demand and the battery suffers. So Apple throttled the older phones in an attempt to stabilize their performance. They didn’t do it to “kill” the phones. Unfortunately, this is just the nature of technology - things get outdated, and they eventually need to be replaced. The slowing of the phones was an attempted fix, not a grand conspiracy around planned obsolescence.

And here we come to the granddaddy of corporate conspiracy theories. Back in the early ‘80s, The Coca-Cola Company was losing market share, and their classic Coke was going the way of the dinosaur. In a desperate attempt to remain relevant, they retooled the formulation and released New Coke. It was an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions, and classic Coke was reintroduced just three months later to enormous fanfare. Not to mention profits. People were immediately suspicious, believing that Coke had intentionally released a bad product to increase demand - and sales - for their classic beverage. This theory was so pronounced that it even caught the attention of company President Donald Keough, who playfully quipped, “We’re not that smart.”

Do you buy into any of these theories? Let us know in the comments below!