Banksy

The artist using the pseudonym Banksy is famous for his anti establishment, anti-government stencil street art. His works frequently critique and bring to light the object oriented culture of modern society like in his piece Shop Till You Drop (Sa//y, 2011)

Depicting a woman falling or being dragged down by a shopping cart, it brings to light the rampant consumerism and spending in a time when it is at best questionable due to the economic situation in England.

Another of his works protested the fact that much of the Jubilee and 2012 Olympic memorabilia had been made in sweatshops, often by underpaid and underfed children. This sort of exploitation of the poor in the name of capitalism is nothing new, but in the past when it had come to light, such as with Nike in the 1990's protests were organizes and products had been boycotted until they took a closer look at their manufacturing. In recent times, Apple has come under fire for its factories in China where a number of suicides and terrible working conditions had come to light. The truth is that today, people would rather closet themselves with their gadgets than acknowledge the pain and suffering that is a byproduct and so something to change it. 

Reference

Sa//y. (2011) Shop Till You Drop. Flickr. [Online] Available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/salsgallery/6417876715/in/photostream/ (Accessed 12 May 2013)