The Beatles and Commodity Fetishism

The concept of commodity fetishism was originally formed by Marx. It is a process by which “people conceive there social relations as if they were natural things” (Abercrombie Et al, 2000, p61) commodity fetishism and false needs are two concepts that more or less go hand in hand together. Adorno argued that the cost of tickets to a concert or the price of a CD defines the social impact and worth. Marx argued that “fetishism which attaches itself to the products of labour as soon as they are produced as commodities, and which is therefore inseparable from the production of commodities.” (Marx 1963,183, cited in Strinati, 2004)

A prime example of just what Commodity Fetishism is is the Apple Ipod (apple as in apple mac computers not Apple as int he Beatles record label) going off on a tangent about this for a second, there is if you notice on itunes NO Beatles music, there is some McCartney solo music but no Beatles music on Itunes, this is due to contract negotiations, and the problems both apple companies have (both symbol's are an apple) but i digress, Ipods, one of the greatest technology's of this decade, everyone seems to have one, or everyone wants one. this is an example of Commodity Fetishism (Social relationships between objects and material interaction).

with the Beatles they were one of the first bands to have merchandise availabnle to fdans to buy at concerts of through there fan club.

you could get anything you could possibly think of with the Beatles on it,

some photographic examples,



Would you like a Beatles wig? so you can look like your fave beatle?



How about a Beatles lunch box?



A tie pin? just like Ringo Wears?



Books are common place now, but the beatle fan club also got songs especially for them wishing them merry Christmas and things.


and for the baby in us all how about Beatles baby clothes

i would like to stress this is only a few examples. the Beatles have many websites selling official merchandise, even now 3 odd years after they split up. the beatles whether they would like it or not are part of the commodity fetishism machine!

so commodity fetishism is all around us, another example is high school musical or hannah montana of which you can get music, clothes and kitchen roll, there is a demand for products with this on it.


reference:

Abercrombie, N, Hill, S & Turner, B (2000). The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. 4th ed. London: Penguin.

Strinati, Dominic (2004). An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. 2nd ed. London: Routledge Available online: http://www.myilibrary.com/Browse/open.asp?ID=5694