Most people I know want a house in the suburbs. Their own land. A place for pets, a garage for cars, no shared walls so they can watch tv loud or play things like rockband (old reference but clearly not something most people can play in an apartment). they like their suburban neighborhoods where they get to know their neighbors and their kids can play with other kids in their front yard, etc....
no need for evil corps for this lifestyle to be appealing to lots of people
Stroads, for instance, only came about after a ton of corporate spending on propaganda and lobbying to increase demand for automobiles.
If you contaminate the water supply of a city in order to create demand for your water purification product, then is the resulting consumer demand your fault or theirs?