Fashion, Fetishism and Branding

The word fetish or fetishism when attributed to African objects is used to describe a wide range of items, contexts and uses. In brief, fetish refers to an object that contains another form of substance(s), widely referred to as medicines or charms. These objects are made for the purpose of spirit guidance and are used to act upon the world whether it is in a natural or supernatural context. They can be used in a positive way, for example, to protect or to effect prosperity or fertility; or they can be used in a negative way, for example, to punish or provoke illness. 

Likewise with the argument that fetish can be seen as a problematic term, this again will be of a general and brief nature compared to its full and complex analysis. 

In a modern Western society the word fetish or fetishism has most probably the same connotations and symbolic meaning for most of its members. The meaning being a fetish is something or someone that an individual has an inner need or desire for in either an emotional, physical or sexual way. It encompasses to us a lot of behaviour that is considered to be outside the norm of society. So in this light it is received in quite a negative way and seems to signify something that people within the norm cannot quite understand.