“Marx’s analysis of commodity fetishism, according to which the commodity not only congeals social relations and hides the struggle over value, but takes on a life and a power of its own, over that of both its producers and consumer” ( Mosco,2009,131)
Commodity Fetishism is a term used by Karl Marx to describe the products price comes from its history, the history of all the people involved in making it and selling it. The relationship between the people making the product and selling it is hidden from our awareness by pretending we live in a world where things have no history. In general, we do not think about the working conditions behind the products we use. Fetishes of our commodities are created by investing a sense of magical powers in them. Arguably this is one of the basic functions of the advertising strategy, create a myth around the product that enables the consumer to invest magical powers into a simple product, such as the emotions that advertisers attach to communication technology.Our digital devices are a product of labour, however the history of the production is detached and replaced with a myth of desire.
commodity fetishism blog 