There is undoubtedly a huge influence on the world of consumerism. Consumerism and capitalism shape the nation we live in today. Everyone knows this because they see ads all day on television, on the radio, on billboards and through hundreds of other mediums. Unfortunately, what the world isn't exposed to is what happens behind the marketing and final sale. There is a dark side to capitalism created not only by shady traders, but also by global multinationals. What both of these excerpts portray is the idea that there is more to the products we buy than we are told or, unfortunately, than we care to ask for. Through the use of interviews, travel and criticism, these authors do an excellent job of analyzing the relationships between branding and marketing and, more importantly, between our modern consumer habits and hidden production processes. Based on what we see through advertising and what sales associates in stores tell us, we assume that many of the products we are exposed to are of high quality, which justifies the high prices. For example, we pay higher prices for a Nike shoe than an off-brand shoe because, from what we know, it's better. Even if some people have the good sense to realize that a name doesn't make much difference, the extent to which we are misled is much greater than we think. Stoller highlights an example that occurred on the streets of Harlem in the following passage: And so they traveled uptown to invest in pieces of wholesale "Ghana Kente," which they took to their sweatshops in lower Manhattan, producing hundreds of caps." kente” at a cheaper price than you could get buying clothes on 125th Street and commissions… middle of paper… we were buying the African image. These two authors have demonstrated in different ways that there are flaws in consumerism. While Stoller didn't attack the market like Klein did, he shed light on an underground society that people didn't know much about, even though we see it every day. This idea is eerily similar to the multinational brands we see every day, doing things that we as consumers, unfortunately, don't know much about. This grand plan to forgo ethics for greater profit is not only bothering us consumers on the streets of Manhattan with counterfeit fabrics, but thanks to Klein, we can see that it is literally destroying the world. Works Cited Stoller, Paul. 2002. Money Doesn't Smell: The Africanization of New York City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Klein, Naomi. 1999. No Logo: Targeting Brand Bullies. Canada: Knopf Canada.