Desperate Acts of Capitalism is an American comedy/historic podcast hosted by CT Kelly and Evan Swopes. Much in the style of The Dollop and Behind the Bastards, each episode consists of the hosts reading stories to one another and comedically riffing on them.
In this case, these are stories of the bizarre, unethical, and/or outright illegal ways in which companies attempt to improve the bottom line. Special attention is paid to failures in this process - the Unintentional Uncanny Valley effect which led many ImageMover films to flop, for example, or the way that Radio Shack squandered its excellent retail position before it could take advantage of the maker movement.
The series is currently on an indefinite hiatus due to external pressures.
You know what we need? Examples! Loads of 'em! That'll bring in the customers!
- Bad Boss: Many (if not most) of the executives depicted fall into this category.
- The podcast notes that, near the end, Radio Shack was a factory for these - store managers might join up bright-eyed and empathetic, but the grueling requirements and unrelenting stress swiftly drove many to become shrieking, abusive monsters.
- Capitalism Is Bad: The show doesn't state this outright, exactly - but it does just about everything short of. The hosts gleefully chronicle the foolish, bizarre, unethical, and illegal things that companies do in their attempts to make money - as well as depicting how often those attempts crash and burn spectacularly.
- Corporate Conspiracy: Small-scale versions of these show up once or twice.
- In the Procter & Gamble Satanic Panic episode, it's eventually revealed that recurring rumors stating that P&G was a front for a satanic cult were being spread by several Amway salesmen, as P&G was their main competitor.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Also a common label among executives that are brought up on the show.
- One noteworthy example is Eddie Lampert, whose out-of-touch mismanagement drove Sears into the ground - and may have been part of a scheme to defraud the company all along.
- Ray Kroc, the man responsible for much of McDonalds's early explosive growth, is described as a sleazy sociopath whose greatest skill is in lying and bullying his franchisees.
- Greed: Hooo, yeah. This is a throughline among the stories depicted.
- Horrible Hollywood: With examples such as Fear Factor, The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure, the various Doctor Dolittle adaptations, and Cats, the warts in the Hollywood system are on clear display.
- Morally Bankrupt Banker: Several of the figures described in these episodes, such as the speculators who caused the Tulip Mania and subsequent market crash.
- The Rich Want to Be Richer: See Greed above.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Even those businesses and executives which cause widespread harm or commit blatant crimes in their efforts to make money rarely suffer any sort of legal comeuppance - unless, of course, they affect the income of other rich people.
- There Are No Good Executives: Averted, surprisingly enough. They don't show up often, but the hosts do give credit to one or two executives (such as David Overton of Cheesecake Factory and Julius Rosenwald of the early Sears company) who legitimately seem like stand-up people.
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Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Discussed in the ImageMover episode. The unsettling animation used in The Polar Express, Beowulf, A Christmas Carol, and Mars Needs Moms led to the shuttering of the studio after only a couple films.
Big things are coming.
