What is commodity fetishism and how does it relate to advertisement cultures?

Commodity Fetishism Advertisement Analysis

Please write a response in multi-paragraph form (400-500 words total) to the following prompt, making sure to elaborate on the arguments from the readings in your own words (lengthy quotes do not count toward the word count – instead, use your own words). Make sure to answer all the parts of the prompt fully, and to proofread your work before submitting it.

1. In Advertising as Religion, Sut Jhally argues that historically, advertisements emerged from modern consumerist culture and echoed Karl Marx’s notion of commodity fetishism. What is commodity fetishism and how does it relate to advertisement cultures?

2. In “Rhetoric of the Image,” Roland Barthes analyses the Panzani advertisement in his semiotic approach and concludes that in the ad “the literal image is denoted, and the symbolic image is connoted” (37). What is denotation and connotation according to Barthes, and more importantly, how is Barthes’ approach to analysis advertisement differ from Jhally’s.

3. Referring to screenings from this week, give an example that substantiate Jhally’s comparisons between advertisement industries to organized religion.

for the book Mythologies by Barthes, just read pages 58–61 and 107–115 of this book.