“Evil Companies Worldwide.” Yep, you read that right- those corporate villains that make us raise our eyebrows and wonder if there’s any hope left for humanity.
So, what makes a company “evil,” you ask? Well, it’s not about twirling mustaches or secret lairs. These businesses prioritize profit over everything else, even if it means trampling on people, the environment, or basic ethics.
One Redditor asked, “What is the most evil company in the entire world ?” The thread has thousands of comments, but we have selected the top ones for you!
1. The East India Company
One said, “Ever? The Dutch East India Company.”
Another person agreed to it and said, “As a Dutch person who never delved into the Dutch East India Company, besides the basics we learn in school (middle school and high school), I don’t know how bad it was.
The impression I got was that yes, they did evil and inhumane things, but since I never heard about it that much, I thought it wasn’t as bad as other colonizers or groups of the time. But hearing people from Indonesia, for example, talk about it and see how much some of them despise the Dutch rule. I can’t help but wonder if Dutch schools ignore these horrible acts and barely cover them. Most of the “this was horrible” attention goes to the Dutch War of Independence and the Second World War.”
The East India Company didn’t just stop at plundering; they also had their own private army. Imagine if Amazon rolled out a Prime Army- that’s pretty much what we’re dealing with here.
2. Dole
Dole’s been accused of some pretty shady labor practices in the past. Workers in countries where they source their fruits have often faced low wages, poor working conditions, and even exposure to harmful pesticides.
A Redditor shared, “Chiquita bananas are far superior to anything that Dole can put out.”
Another replied, “Ah, Dole. They overthrew the Hawaiian government in 1893, creating a dictatorship run by Western businessmen that they eventually annexed.”
3. Nestlé
A discerning Reddit user commented, “Nestle is the headliner these days. They’re moving into areas, buying water rights, and practically letting the locals die of thirst. I found out yesterday that the Nestle wastewater treatment facility is just a field that they distribute the wastewater into via garden sprinklers.”
Another added, “There was a thing a while back where they were providing baby formula to new mothers in Africa for free… until the mothers’ milk dried up, around which time the formula stopped being free, and the mother had no choice but to pay or else have her baby die.”
Another person said, “Nestle sold radioactive milk from Chernobyl to third-world countries. They don’t believe water is a human right, and they’ve been stealing Michigan groundwater for years now. Considering all the problems we’ve been having with lead, our water should be OURS, not for them to take, bottle, and sell back to us at a premium.”
But wait, there’s more! Nestlé has been in hot water for using palm oil sourced from unsustainable practices, contributing to deforestation and habitat destruction.
4. Chiquita
Back in the day, Chiquita, known as the United Fruit Company, were basically the puppet masters of Central America. They’d cozy up to dictators and sometimes even meddle in governments.
One said, “It all comes down to who you believe in the whole thing. Yes, Chiquita was convicted of funding a terror organization, and they did admit as such. However, if you believe Chiquita’s statements on the matter, it was because the terrorist organization had been threatening their employees and the farms they utilized in, and the payments were made to “protect their workers.”
i.e., they paid the terrorists to leave their people alone. On the other hand, there is an argument to be made that the terror group was doing a lot of union busting, and their purpose was more so to intimidate Chiquita (and other farm workers) to prevent them from unionizing.”
Another replied, “For what it’s worth, the DOJ did acknowledge the terrorist groups in Columbia are known to extort a lot of the privately run farms and businesses in Columbia the exact way as described by Chiquita.”
5. DuPont
A Reddit user wrote, “Wasn’t it DuPont that’s estimated to have poisoned in some capacity something like 98 percent of the world’s population over the last century? They are pretty far up there.”
Another person agreed to it and said, “Yeah, they are the reason most of the population has Teflon in their blood. They knew how dangerous it was but continued to sell it, and they were caught dumping it into the Ohio River, making it toxic.”
DuPont knew for years that a chemical used to make Teflon was toxic and could mess with our health. But did they warn us? Nope, not even once!
6. De Beers
De Beers has been linked to some serious human rights abuses. In the diamond mines of Africa, they’ve been accused of turning a blind eye to child labor, poor working conditions, and even funding brutal conflicts through what’s known as “blood diamonds.”
One said, “De Beers actually only controls about 30% of the market now. They’re still significant enough to force prices, though. diamond companies.”
Another added, “It was a monopoly just that if there was a god, he’d send the entire company straight to not heaven.”
7. E Corp
You might be thinking, “E Corp? Never heard of them.” Well, that’s because they’re the kind of company that operates in the shadows, pulling the strings behind the scenes.
A Redditor shared, “E Corp, more like Evil Corp. Power belongs to the people that take it. Nothing to do with their hard work, strong ambitions, or rightful qualifications, no. The actual will to take is often the only thing that’s necessary.”
Another replied, “FCorp. They will die in debt for things they didn’t want to do!”
8. Colonial Penn
A discerning Reddit user commented, “Colonial Penn life insurance for seniors. “The $9.95 plan!” No benefit for first 2 years, and if you die after year 4 or 5 you have no net benefit (total premiums paid exceed payout).”
Another added, “I sold insurance broadly and was sent out to sell this occasionally. I always explained in depth why it was so bad. Most of them just wanted it to pay for a funeral of some sort. Nearly every option is better than Colonial Penn for that.”
And then there’s the whole “guaranteed acceptance” thing. Sounds great, right? Wrong! Colonial Penn might say they’ll accept you no matter what, but they’ll charge you an arm and a leg for it.
9. Monsanto
Now, they have developed GMO seeds that are resistant to their own pesticides, so farmers have to buy both the seeds and the chemicals, creating a never-ending cycle of dependency.
A Reddit user wrote, “Yeah, Monsanto is in the club. Monsanto is now Bayer CropScience. Still the same monopolistic attitude on food and GMO and most of Monsanto issues.”
Another person agreed to it and said, “It makes it especially heinous for me that they sell both the sickness and the remedy as they are also a Pharma company. I try to avoid them when buying stuff because I feel like they are in a huge conflict of interest.”
10. Purdue Pharma
A Redditor shared, “The fact that they knowingly pushed this onto addicts who didn’t want opiates at all because oxycontin wasn’t addictive is so evil. My uncle had a master’s degree in psychology but ran rehabs because he was himself an ex-heroin addict who ended up jumping off the Bay Bridge after he blew his settlement from them on oxys. What a waste. He was the first of hundreds in my life to be destroyed by them.”
Another replied, “This. Every other post here is amateur hour compared to decades of addiction, thanks to PP. I def had some ptsd and def watched my jaw drop when I found out the terms my pain doctor was using were made up by Purdue. You really get a sense for how they manipulated doctors.”
You see, Purdue Pharma aggressively marketed OxyContin as a miracle drug with a low risk of addiction. They convinced doctors to prescribe it for everything from backaches to toothaches. And here’s the thing: they downplayed the risks of addiction while raking in billions of dollars.
11. Union Carbide
Union Carbide has been accused of some seriously irresponsible practices. They cut corners on safety measures, ignored warning signs, and basically acted like they were above the law.
One said, “Union Carbide is definitely up there. They are responsible for the Bhopal disaster due to cooperate greed. They valued money over safety, and the city of Bhopal has paid the cost. Even still to this day. The company was bought out by The Dow and DuPont, and they refuse to pay out what the city deserves. It would be a fraction of what they make a year. evil”
Another added, “Also responsible for the Hawks Nest Tunnel disaster in West Virginia, credited by some as the largest industrial disaster in the nation’s history.”
12. Quaker Oats
Quaker Oats has a knack for sneakily adding sugar to their cereals- like, a lot of it. They market these cereals as healthy options, but they’re practically candy in disguise.
A discerning Reddit user commented, “Quaker Oats is evil because they’re all about making money at the expense of our health and the environment.”
Another person pitched in to say, “From 1946 to 1953, researchers from Quaker Oats Company, MIT, and Harvard University carried out experiments at the Walter E. Fernald State School to determine how the minerals from cereals were metabolized.
Parents of disabled children were asked for permission to let their children be members of a Science Club and participate in research. Being a member of the Science Club gave the children special privileges. The parents were told that the children would be fed a diet high in nutrients.
They were not told that the food their children were fed contained radioactive calcium and iron, and the consent form contained no information indicating this.[35][36] The information obtained from the experiments was to be used as part of an advertising campaign.[37] The company was later sued because of the experiments. The lawsuit was settled on 31 December 1997.[38]”
13. Buy N Large
First things first, Buy N Large is the retail version of a sci-fi villain. They’re the company that’s all about convenience, and we mean convenience at any cost. They’ve got their fingers in everything from groceries to electronics, ensuring we never have to leave their neon-lit aisles.
A Reddit user wrote, “Buy and Large. They literally destroyed the Earth’s ecology, then ran from the results while simultaneously enslaving the remnants of humanity to robot overseers.”
Another replied, “Buy N Large is responsible for polluting the Earth to the point where it becomes uninhabitable and for promoting excessive consumerism.”
14. McKesson
A Redditor shared, “McKesson…the biggest company you’ve probably never heard of. Got caught flooding small towns with opioids.”
Another person agreed to it and said, “It’s wild that people don’t realize there are essentially 3 companies that distribute all pharmaceuticals to pharmacies.”
But wait, there’s more! McKesson has faced lawsuits and fines for their role in the opioid crisis. They paid some hefty fines, but the damage was already done, and thousands of lives were lost.
15. YouTube Kids
One said, “Yeah, at least children’s educational channels had vetted programs that were made intelligently; YouTube Kids is just a wild west of sketchy content creators trying to drive as many clicks as possible.”
Another added, “And the parents exploiting their children as content farms. See Ryan’s world, Diana and Roma, Vlad and Niki, etc. They all have a thousand accounts in many languages, and it’s impossible to block them.”
But wait, there’s more! YouTube Kids has faced criticism for not doing enough to filter out inappropriate content and protect kids from potential harm.
16. Blackrock
BlackRock has faced criticism for its cozy relationships with big corporations. They’re often accused of putting their profit margins ahead of ethical concerns and the environment.
A discerning Reddit user commented, “The cause for American home prices being driven up are old rich homeowners in all our local governments making it illegal to build townhomes and apartments. You would be amazed how, in most of our country, it’s illegal to build anything other than a single-family home. Blackrock is an easy scapegoat… but their percentage ownership of homes isn’t that big.”
Another person pitched in to say, “They are definitely not benign. They are using the threat of disinvestment to force social engineering agendas on nearly every major US corporation.”
17. General Motors
GM faced a massive scandal in the early 2000s when they were found to have covered up a defect in their ignition switches. This defect led to accidents and deaths, and GM knew about it but didn’t do much to fix it.
A Reddit user wrote, “The US has every right to break up monopolies, but nobody has the guts to do it.”
Another replied, “As someone whose family worked for GM for half a century, I agree. Have you read Unsafe at Any Speed? They knew the dangers of the Corvair and decided to let people die and just pay out instead of recalling.”
18. McKinsey & Company
A Redditor shared, “I’ve read 4 subsections of their wiki page, and I’m already upset. We’re absolutely {in trouble}, aren’t we? “We” being the common people who just want to live on an earth that isn’t burning and maybe one day afford to buy a roof over our heads.”
Another person agreed and said, “They are big pushers of the top-heavy company loaded with executives and outsource the rest overseas model we see today.”
Some people say that McKinsey reminds us that even the most prestigious firms can make some questionable decisions. What do you think?
19. ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil has been accused of covering up its own research on climate change. They knew about their industry’s environmental risks, but they kept that information locked away!
One said, “Exxon mobile. They have basically sent our entire planet to not heaven. This company knew about global warming since the 70s and did nothing about it.
If anything, they increased it all for profit. Now, if you have children, they will suffer in the future, which is the reason why I really don’t wanna have any myself. I’ll probably adopt because those kids are already here, though.”
Another added, “Had to scroll an embarrassingly long time to get to this answer. IMHO nothing can top these huge oil companies. Selling fossil fuels is one thing; actively fighting the truth and alternatives – with the consequences of catastrophic global warming on the horizon – is something else. Not only are/will people dying, but whole species are going extinct because of that. It doesn’t get more evil than that.”
20. Comcast Corp
A discerning Reddit user commented, “While definitely evil, their scope and type of operation limit what they can affect… maybe if you could judge the souls of their management and not just their actions, they’d be higher.”
Another replied, “They are bad in every other way, so their biggest uphill battle with public perception. It was sad to see, really.”
Comcast has tried to clean up its image with fancy ads and promises of better customer service. But, as they say, actions speak louder than commercials, right?
12 American Customs That Make No Sense To Foreigners
When people from other countries visit the United States, they often notice some things that seem really strange. These are things that Americans do in their everyday lives, but they might not make much sense to visitors.
12 American Customs That Make No Sense to Foreigners
12 Things You Should Stop Doing When You Turn 18
As young adults reach the age of 18, a new chapter in life begins. It’s a time filled with opportunities and responsibilities. These changes can help pave the way for a more successful and fulfilling journey into the world of grown-up responsibilities.
12 Things You Should Stop Doing When You Turn 18
12 Mythological Creatures That Might Actually Exist
via DepositPhotos.com.
Mythology has always been a fascinating realm where imagination and reality intertwine. While many mythological creatures have been dismissed as pure fiction, there are a few that might find a place in the realm of possibility.
12 Mythological Creatures That Might Actually Exist
12 Healthy Foods Most People Refuse To Eat
When it comes to maintaining a healthy diet, we often hear about the importance of consuming a variety of nutritious foods. However, some of these foods often end up being overlooked or outright refused by many individuals. Despite their incredible health benefits, certain foods face a lack of popularity due to taste, texture, or unfamiliarity.
12 Healthy Foods Most People Refuse To Eat
20 Jobs That Used To Be Prestigious But Aren’t Anymore
londondeposit via DepositPhotos.com.
Some jobs used to be all fancy-schmancy, but now? Meh, not so much. We are talking about those gigs that used to make you raise your eyebrows in admiration, but now, you’re more likely to raise your remote and change the channel.
20 Jobs That Used To Be Prestigious but Aren’t Anymore
This article was produced and syndicated by A Dime Saved.