This is a picture reminds me of the discussion we had in our second lecture about the iPhone 5. It really captures the image that the iphone is a huge item that us consumers are controlled by. We are controlled by the idea that we need to get the “newer, faster and better looking NEW phone” but in reality us individuals can do without getting all these new updated phones. I feel that these new upcoming phones play into the role of commodity fetishism because we make these items important to us in a way that we feel more welcomed or we feel like we fit in a society that is always changing in terms of the new products. By the new iphone coming out after just a year (or less) of the iphone 4 coming out, it shows us that Apple is after finding something “new” because its a gesture of gaining more money which in turn, gains more power, especially in today’s society. In today’s world, we are so consumed in getting the new items and objects that will help us fit in more with today’s society. By doing this, we feed into the cycle of consumer fetishism- “the products of everyone’s labour become what society makes us” (law of value: the fetishism of commodities, 2010)- when we buy a commodity we have an experience between ourselves and society. This means we so easily give into the fact that we consume the new “in” thing, which forces the producers to make new items and objects for us to consume, which give them the power, which in turn means they gain the money and in a sense the “authority” over society. In lecture, he makes a point that we make this cycle between the producers and consumers everlasting and that we make commodity fetishism a part of our everyday lives and it works for us. It is pretty clear that capitalist and higher powers in society such as huge corporations are benefiting from the cycle of commodity fetishism, but in reality, it’s a cycle that is impossible to get out of.
gracemiole 