What is fetishism?– The term “fetishism” was coined in the late 1800s. It originates from the Portuguese word feitico, which means “obsessive fascination”. There is a degree of fetishistic arousal in most normal individuals who find particular bodily features attractive. – https://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/fetishism
Own definition: I way I would describe fetishism is that it’s an individuals desire whether that’s a sexual fixation, fantasies of behavior they may have towards an inanimate object. For example, a fetish a male may have is underwear. This is because most males find women’s underwear pleasing.
What is commodity fetishism? “Commodity fetishism is the perception of the social relationships involved in production, not as relationships among people, but as economic relationships among the money and commodities exchanged in market trade”. It is all about the way in which companies sell their products in a way that will encourage revenue based on how they present their items. For example, you quite often find perfume brands like Calvin Klein selling their perfume in a sexual, top-less kind of way that will bring in an audiences attention.
Commodity fetishism plays with our desire to abject anything which does not support our fetished desire. This is the opposite to abjection.
How can photography fetishize objects? Or alternatively, how might we make photographs that play with or critique commodity fetishism? In terms of fetishizing objects, Dolce & Gabbana released a ‘gang bang’ advert in attempt to sell it’s products to a wide range of audiences. Within the photo, a young girl is led on the floor surrounded by topless men. The girl is wearing a short dress which brings attention towards the male gaze and the topless, tanned men makes it pleasing for women. However, this ad was pulled down soon after it was released as it gave the wrong impression. The way the company fetishized it’s product is through the staging and production of the image. The brand are attempting to make their products look sexy and to send out a message that says ‘if you buy our products, you will have the same kind of image or even so, attention’. Companies like Dolce & Gabbana do everything they can to sell their products therefore they make them desirable so the audience feel as if they look and feel the same way as the people used within the image.
“There are a handful of photographers who have been brave enough over the years to engage in the risqué art of Fetishism with their camera. It is a difficult area to get right, trying to make it shocking enough to grab people’s attention without crossing over too far into pornography”- http://illusion.scene360.com/art/81727/sexual-fetishism-photography/
Below is a selection of fetish photography that successfully worked within the media:
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