Commodity Fetishism and Advertising

When the professor first introduced this term "Commodity Fetishism", it took me a while before truly understanding what it means. To my understanding, it is the social relationship that the consumers have with inanimate objects and to them, under capitalism, their relationship with anyone has an economic value to it.

For us consumers, when we purchase an item, we don't see the value of the item coming from behind the item, instead, we see the value of the commodity coming from the item itself. That is an illusion which we call a 'fetish'.

when the professor showed us the video of where a woman was lining up to buy the Iphone 5 and what is it that she liked so much about the new Iphone that she is not willing to leave her spot after lining up for 2 days, we all just thought that this woman sounded dumb - she answered how the Iphone 5 looks so cool and that she would use it to text and take pictures (as if any other phone couldn't do the same).

However, after giving a thought, i realize everyone including me, is no different from this woman here. We are all sort of blinded by advertising in a capitalist society where it is necessary to work harder in order to buy more.

The cycle keeps going in order to sustain the economy system. This gave my chills down my back but it is unavoidable and it applies to me perfectly. I have a part time job and every time i am available, i ask my boss to give me extra hours in order to earn more money. I use that money for transportation to school but another reason is that i have the urge to go shopping every time i get i paycheck. Even though i really dislike my work, i am still willing to work longer hours in order to get more money.

After this lecture, i will definitely think twice the next time i am about to buy something. I know that it is 'normal' and that's how everyone has been living in a society but i would still try not to be too extreme in working more hours just for the sake of shopping.