the mighty product fetish
Cult brands are trendsetters, which redefine consumers’ tastes. Like religious idols they establish contact to everyday shapes, to tradition and the common background. Banal objects surpass their real value. An iMac is no longer just a computer but something snappy and colorful. A Zippo communicates by his old fashioned design the values and world of our grandfathers. The product world is slowly encroaching into areas, which were formerly the domain of religious and cultural institutions. In addition to their practical uses some products are assuming the character of religious icons. Their emotional aspect changes them into objects of desire. The film shows how a product fetish comes about. From his creation to its introduction onto the market the documentary shows how designers, advertising agencies and marketing experts attempt to artificially create a fetish character for the product. Simultaneously, the film follows a ceremony of the Hopi Indian tribe showing the effect of religious fetishes on the tribe members. The profane and the sacred mingle. The product fetish becomes sacred and the religious fetish corrupts.
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