consumerism - Fresh Lime Soda

The Zomato ad and India's hustle since 1947

Aug 16, 2025 5 min read

In contemporary India, corporate branding has often aligned itself with nationalist sentiment, adopting imagery such as the tricolour, Sanskrit slogans or references to ancient achievements to evoke c…

Streaming now: the 24/7 human centipede

Feb 19, 2022 2 min read

Culture Big Brother franchise Bigg Boss franchise Bigg Boss Ultimate celebrity culture consumerism The Human Centipede Tom Six voyeurism

Have you heard of 'Bigg Boss Ultimate'?…

Pseudoscientific materials and thermoeconomics

Jul 6, 2021 6 min read

Analysis Science capitalism consumerism eco-economic decoupling flygskam Greta Thunberg Gucci infinite growth Michael Liebrich nationalism negative entropy NFT non-fungible tokens pseudoscience Shycocan thermoeconomics

The Shycocan Corp. took out a full-page jacket ad in the Times of India on June 22 – the same day The Telegraph (UK) had a story about GBP 2,900 handbags by Gucci that exist only online, in some video…

Ocean-safe consumption

Jun 2, 2020 2 min read

Analysis Scicomm biodegradable bioplastic consumerism consumption coronavirus lockdown Ganga river surface cleaners The Better India toxicity

Just spotted this ad on the website of The Better India, a journalism website that focuses on "positive stories": India's nationwide lockdown has many important lessons – including the…

Friends no more

Dec 17, 2017 3 min read

Op-eds anti-intellectualism astrology Bapstein-King comet consumerism Facebook Friends March for Science Ross Geller science communication science journalism TV show Twitter

Growing up, watching Friends was a source of much amusement and happiness. Now, as a grownup, I can't watch a single episode without deeply resenting how the show caricatures all science as avoida…