Brands Are Obsessed With Banksy's Shredded Painting. Here's How They're Co-Opting It

A critic of capitalism becomes a marketing muse

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As the great philosopher James Tiberius Kirk once said: “There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves.”

This week, Banksy must surely be wondering if he has fueled the very machine of late-stage capitalism that he famously despises. The iconic street artist made headlines by remotely shredding his own painting shortly after it sold at auction for $1.4 million, which many hailed as a

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