Corporate Tricks with Treats

What’s spookier than ghosts and ghouls? The little-known tactics that companies use to trick consumers, leaving us worse off, paying more, and in the dark. For example, did you know that Mars Inc. (the American family-owned maker of Skittles, Mars Bars, and Orbit Gum) may also own your local veterinary practice? 

Or that other Big Candy companies have been accused of substituting worse products like corn syrup, paraffin wax, or vegetable oil in their chocolate to reduce costs and widen profits. These are symptoms of wider market trends relating to concentrated corporate power.

Join the Dais for a ‘spooktacular’ lunch time conversation with Denise Hearn and Vass Bednar about their new book, The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians. This event is free and books will be available for purchase.

We are committed to hosting an inclusive and accessible event for everyone. Please indicate any accessibility needs you require in the registration form.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DENISE HEARN is an author, applied researcher, and advisor. She advises governments, financial institutions, companies, and nonprofits on antitrust, economic policy, and new economic thinking. She is a resident senior fellow at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment at Columbia University. Denise is co-author of The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition, named a Financial Times best book of 2018, and The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians. Her work has appeared in major news publications globally and translated into 10 languages.

VASS BEDNAR is the executive director of McMaster University’s Master of Public Policy in Digital Society program. Her work focuses on the intersections between policy and the innovation ecosystem. She is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and writes the popular newsletter “regs to riches.” Vass is a contributing columnist at The Globe and Mail and the host of their podcast, Lately.