Luxury Brands and the Military: The Exploitation Connection

While it's generally understood that high-end fashion brands market prestige and status, it’s less obvious how this same manipulation is mirrored in military recruitment, which primarily targets people from low-income backgrounds. Both these industries prey on people's insecurities and their need for self-worth, offering false promises of value and social mobility. By commodifying both goods and lives, luxury brands and the military create illusions of empowerment, when in reality, they profit from the sacrifices of the working poor and disadvantaged.Send any questions and comments to [email protected] and they will addressed in a future episode.Materials you might find helpful: BBC. (2018, July 19). Burberry burns bags, clothes, and perfume worth millions. BBC. Retrieved April 11, 2024, from https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44885983 Ilaria, M. (2018) 'The Chinese workers who assemble designer bags in Tuscany', The New Yorker, 16 April. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/16/the-chinese-workers-who-assemble-designer-bags-in-tuscany(Accessed: 28 September 2024). Workers World (2022) ‘How the war machine ‘recruits’ poor, oppressed youth, 20 December. Available at: https://www.workers.org/2022/12/68299/ (Accessed: 28 September 2024).