How I Became an "Anarchist": Two Years Fighting Neuromarketing and Getting Nowhere

The Beginning: A Simple Request for Responsibility

Two years ago, I started sending messages to major food retailers asking them to limit their use of neuromarketing. I wasn't asking for miracles—just basic responsibility. I wrote about manipulative packaging, engineered cravings, and the psychological tricks that push people toward overconsumption. I asked them to consider voluntary limits, transparency, or even a public conversation.

Over two years, I exchanged countless emails with these companies. The pattern was always the same: polite replies, vague promises, corporate empathy theater—and then nothing. No policy changes. No commitments. No acknowledgment that neuromarketing is part of a deadly global problem.

Political Outreach: Direct Messages Into a Void

When the corporations ignored me, I turned to politicians. I sent direct messages, long explanations, evidence summaries, and moral appeals. I contacted representatives, ministers, and EU-level officials. Again, nothing. Not even a symbolic gesture. The silence was louder than any rejection.

Petitions: A Tool That Barely Works

I launched petitions. I supported others. I tried to mobilize people. But petitions—at least on this topic—seem almost useless.

And I'm not the first to discover this.

In 2015, a British citizen launched a petition on Change.org titled "Free Mind – Petition for the banning of Neuromarketing and its use within the EU." Over 11 years, it collected 8 signatures. Eight. In a continent of 745 million people.

Meanwhile, obesity kills an estimated 5 million people every year worldwide. Across 11 years, that's well over 50 million deaths—a number so large it becomes abstract. But it's real. And neuromarketing-driven overconsumption plays a partial role in this catastrophe.

The contrast is absurd: 50 million deaths vs. 8 signatures. If this is what public mobilization looks like, then petitions are not a solution—they are a symptom of collective paralysis.

Media Outreach: Another Dead End

I contacted newspapers, magazines, and online outlets. I wrote about neuromarketing's ethical vacuum, the public health crisis, and the systemic manipulation of human biology. I hoped at least one journalist would see the story.

None responded. Not even a "thank you for your message."

The Radicalization: When Normal Communication Fails

After two years of trying every "respectable" method—corporate outreach, political messaging, petitions, media engagement—I had to face a simple truth:

Normal communication does not work.

Not when the topic threatens billions in profit. Not when the victims are blamed for their own biology. Not when the system is designed to ignore polite requests.

So yes—I radicalized.

This is why I perform the NOPE HAUL challenges. This is why I leave shopping carts full of low‑value, hyper‑processed, neuromarketed junk in the middle of the store. This is why I choose absurd, provocative, anarchist‑looking actions.

Because the situation is absurd. Because the system is unresponsive. Because polite activism has failed.

Why Anarchism Became the Only Language Left

I know the NOPE HAUL challenge looks like a small act of chaos. I know it can be interpreted as anarchistic performance art. But when every institutional channel refuses to engage, absurdity becomes the only remaining form of communication.

If corporations won't listen, if politicians won't act, if the media won't report, and if the public won't sign petitions, then the only tool left is disruption—symbolic, peaceful, but unmistakable.

I didn't start as an anarchist. The system made me one.