Commodity Fetishism
use value and exchange value
commodity self
“consumerism creates and abstract world of signs and symbols separate from the economic context of commerce and production”
How?
mass-produced goods are emptied of the meaning of their production (the context in which they were produced and the labour that created them) and then filled with new meanings in ways that both mystify the product and turn it into a fetish object
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Week 8
Advertising, Consumers Cultures & Desires
Envy, Desire, & Belonging
the language of transformation they sell the promise tat their lives will change if they buy a particular product. They use figures of glamour that consumers can envy and wish to emulate.
Attachment if the value if art to a product can give it a connotation of prestige tradition or authenticity & cultural value -
ex. grey goose vodka advertising
Ads such as these construct consumers as having cultural knowledge - cultural capital. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu identified different forms of capital in addition to economic capital, social capital, & cultural capital.
Social Capital = whom you know, your social network, & the opportunities they provide you.
Symbolic Capital = prestige celebrities
Cultural Capital = the forms of cultural knowledge that give you social advantages. It can come in deciphering cultural relation & artifacts
Commodity Culture
Commodity Fetishism
- Marx’s Theory - Social Theorist
- 19th the first to write about capitalism as a social structural element sometimes “use value” is outweighed by “exchange value” (the more expensive the better)
We construct tour identities with the consumer products we buy and keep
Commodities are emptied of the meaning of their production (the context in which they were produced)
4 wheel drive - analysis
decode the ad
- who is the “commodity self” of the 4WD
- consider connotations of voice over
- midlife crisis for women is almost getting an SUV
- this whole thing plays on fear (giving up, not having adventures) so you get a vehicle that can do all these things that you’re not going to do
- cause-related marketing (suzuki with the black rhino)
- 25% of Australians actively reject the green message
Envy, Desire, & Belonging
the language of transformation they sell the promise tat their lives will change if they buy a particular product. They use figures of glamour that consumers can envy and wish to emulate.
Attachment if the value if art to a product can give it a connotation of prestige tradition or authenticity & cultural value -
ex. grey goose vodka advertising
Ads such as these construct consumers as having cultural knowledge - cultural capital. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu identified different forms of capital in addition to economic capital, social capital, & cultural capital.
Social Capital = whom you know, your social network, & the opportunities they provide you.
Symbolic Capital = prestige celebrities
Cultural Capital = the forms of cultural knowledge that give you social advantages. It can come in deciphering cultural relation & artifacts
Commodity Culture
Commodity Fetishism
- Marx’s Theory - Social Theorist
- 19th the first to write about capitalism as a social structural element sometimes “use value” is outweighed by “exchange value” (the more expensive the better)
We construct tour identities with the consumer products we buy and keep
Commodities are emptied of the meaning of their production (the context in which they were produced)
4 wheel drive - analysis
decode the ad
- who is the “commodity self” of the 4WD
- consider connotations of voice over
- midlife crisis for women is almost getting an SUV
- this whole thing plays on fear (giving up, not having adventures) so you get a vehicle that can do all these things that you’re not going to do
- cause-related marketing (suzuki with the black rhino)
- 25% of Australians actively reject the green message
Week 6
1) Photography = of a time - a historical document only recognized as such in the fullness of time
2) Culture counter culture
sub - culture
------------------ --> visual manifestations and representations
high culture
popular culture
get a picture of Liang’s bride and Annie’s together and compare and contrast. both are staged, talk about why one is called art and one is called commercial photography.
This picture was taken in the slums of the city. These people were photographed sitting on the steps to their run down house. An interview with the mother, Catherine, reveals that she is the caretaker of an orphanage in the city taking care of no less than 50 children. of the two children in this picture, the one on the left is Catherine’s own child and the one on the right is her adopted. When this picture was taken, the family was waiting for Catherine’s sister, Mary to return safely from a trip into town.
2) Culture counter culture
sub - culture
------------------ --> visual manifestations and representations
high culture
popular culture
get a picture of Liang’s bride and Annie’s together and compare and contrast. both are staged, talk about why one is called art and one is called commercial photography.
This picture was taken in the slums of the city. These people were photographed sitting on the steps to their run down house. An interview with the mother, Catherine, reveals that she is the caretaker of an orphanage in the city taking care of no less than 50 children. of the two children in this picture, the one on the left is Catherine’s own child and the one on the right is her adopted. When this picture was taken, the family was waiting for Catherine’s sister, Mary to return safely from a trip into town.
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