An evil corporation is a trope in popular culture that portrays a corporation as ignoring social responsibility, morality, ethics, and sometimes laws in order to make profit for its shareholders. In rare cases, the corporation may be well intentioned but extremist, engaging in noble cause corruption. In fiction The notion is "deeply embedded in the landscape of contemporary culture—populating films, novels, videogames, and more." The science fiction genre served as the initial background to portray corporations in this dystopian light. Evil corporations can be seen to represent the danger of combining capitalism with larger hubris. In real life In real life some corporations have been accused of being evil. To guard against such accusations, Google at one point in its history had the official motto "Don't be evil", however they abandoned that motto for being too obviously frivolous. The New Yorker wrote that "many food activists consider Monsanto (which later merged with Bayer) to be the definitively evil corporation". The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility wrote, "For many consumers, Wal-Mart serves as the evil corporation prototype, but record numbers shop at the stores for low prices." In Japan, a committee of journalists and rights activists issues an annual "corporate raspberry award" known as Most Evil Corporation of the Year Award (also called the Black Company Award) to a company "with a culture of overwork, discrimination and harassment". See also Anti-capitalism Anti-consumerism Anti-corporate activism Big Pharma conspiracy theory Business ethics Corporate crime Corporate warfare Criticism of capitalism Criticisms of corporations Cyberpunk Ethically disputed business practices (category) Karen Silkwood List of corporate collapses and scandals Megacorporation Military–industrial complex Multinational corporation Organized crime Prison–industrial complex Psychopathy in the workplace Shareholder primacy State crime State-corporate crime The Corporation (2003 film) References Further reading External links Sample list of evil corporations in film at MTV Sample list of evil corporations in science fiction at PC World Sample list of evil corporations in science fiction books at Barnes & Noble Science fiction themes Cyberpunk themes Anti-corporate activism Tropes Fiction about organizations Dystopian fiction Corruption Corporate conduct