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Articles on Commodification

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Cashless payments have advantages, but only to those who have the means to make them. Karolina Grabowska/Pexels

The problem with cashless payments

The slow disappearance of cash has advantages, but it can also exclude the most vulnerable from socio-economic activity. It’s also a privatisation that deteriorates the symbolic dimensions of money.
Margot, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, is important because viewers without much experience with fine dining culture, or who empathize with criticisms of it, can relate to her. (Eric Zachanowich/Searchlight Pictures)

Horror comedy ‘The Menu’ delves into foodie snobbery when you’re dying for a cheeseburger

The Menu’s real horror comes from the ways food, eating, and cooking lose their carnal pleasures under capitalism.
Usher, shown speaking in 2019 at an event hosted by the nonprofit he started, and two other celebrities shot five episodes of the canceled series. Paras Griffin/Getty Images

‘The Activist’ reality TV show sparked furor, but treating causes as commodities with help from celebrities happens all the time

The producers are recasting the show as a documentary. The original version would have done more harm than good for the causes being showcased, two scholars argue.
Does the new #MeToo-inspired Gillette ad for men’s razors represent a cultural shift in ads directed at men? Here’s a still from the new ad. Gillette/Procter & Gamble

Gillette’s #MeToo-inspired ad represents a cultural shift

The new #MeToo-inspired Gillette ad for men’s razors has attracted some negative attention from men. Is the ad aimed at men or women? If men, does it represent a cultural shift in ads for men?
More than 80 per cent of the plasma Canada now uses for medical purposes comes from paid donation in the United States. (Shutterstock)

Why Canadians should be paid for blood plasma donation

Canada suffers a shortage of vital blood plasma. Paying donors, through a non-profit like Canadian Blood Services, would secure a local supply without lining the pockets of corporate shareholders.

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