Today’s consumers are making high-stakes choices—what to buy, what to subscribe to, how to borrow, and where to invest—in a marketplace engineered to influence them. Companies increasingly use behavioral science, “dark pattern” design, dynamic pricing, and AI-driven personalization to push impulsive spending, lock people into recurring payments, and exploit attention and data in ways most people don’t recognize. These tactics disproportionately harm high school and college students, underrepresented communities, and first-time earners who have less access to financial education and fewer buffers for costly mistakes. As a result, everyday decisions that should support consumer well-being often become pathways to debt, wasted income, privacy loss, and reduced financial security—while consumers are left without clear, practical education on how manipulation works or how to protect themselves.