The Corporation, a documentary about the "evil" nature of corporations around the world, shows us that each corporation has its own identity, influences culture through brand names, and creates identities within our culture. First, we will examine how corporations work according to the documentary, then explore how each corporation uses its resources to create an individual identity for itself, and how they influence cultures.

Corporations, by law, are considered to be a "person". Legally speaking, they have all the rights of a person, such as owning land, sue and be sued, to borrow and lend money, and all the other rights we as humans enjoy. While from a business standpoint this may make sense, it has given corporations far too much power over the daily lives of everyday people. As we saw in The Corporation, the government is even beginning to work hand in hand with large corporations, using them for national intelligence, receiving large amounts of money to do the bidding of the corporations, and forming national policy based on the interests of the corporations instead of average citizens. These kinds of practices have taken away power from the hands of the people and put them into large corporations. But who are the corporations responsible to? The answer is nobody but themselves. Aside from government restrictions, which are often broken, corporations have no concience, guilt, or accountability, essencially placing them above the law.

These corporations didn't obtain such power on their own, however. People have bought their products, giving them huge sums of money and with money, power. Corporations are first and foremost out to make money. They do this by convincing people that they need their product, that it is the best, and that it is worth the money people spend to get it. Brand names are essencial in this process, giving the corporation an identity and often placing that identity on different cultures. Brand names such as McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and Nike, are often used as symbols for American culture. American's even identify with brand names. People often classify themselves by the clothing they wear, which is usually supported by a brand name such as Polo, Nike, Tommy Hillfigger, Sean John, ect. Corporations are using their identity to influence culture and create an identity for themsevles and their costomers. This is often accomplished by using advertising. As we saw in the documentary, advertising companies often go after vulnerable, trusting children to sell their products. They know that children can often get their parents to buy them things when pushed hard enough, and that children do not know the difference between good and bad products, only what they see on tv, and use this to push their products.

The documentary The Corporation shows us clearly how corporations use their identities to influence culture, identities, and even government. This is driven by advertising, brand names, and this very identity they wish to create. Despite many instances where corporations break the law and even work outside the law, we continue to allow them to create a fake corporate identity and culture for us.