COMMODITY FETISHISMS IN COSMETIC ADVERTISEMENTS IN INDONESIA

Abstract

The objectives of this research entitled “Commodity Fetishism in Cosmetic Advertisement in Indonesia” were to find out how the phenomena of commodity fetishism appear in cosmetic advertisement in Indonesia and how consumers’ responses toward the phenomena of commodity fetishism. The research method was qualitative-interpretative method using text-analysis. The instrument of this research was the writer herself. The data samples of this research were the cosmetic advertisements; those were facial foam and whitening/lightening cream advertisements from some common brands in Indonesia. Based on the data analysis there were some phenomena of commodity fetishism appear in cosmetics advertisement which marked by the appearance of models, male or female who had white skin, flawless, spotless and no acnes. It seemed that was the result of the usage the product. Then the phenomenon also marked by using some hyperbolic texts, for example “ganteng maksimal”, “see results in 7 days or your money back”, “tampil terbaik”, “putih cerah hingga 3 tingkat” dan “komplit cerahnya”. The results of the interview showed that the responses from the respondents dominated by the lack of consumers’ credibility towards the products compared with the appearances in the advertisements. It could be concluded that the phenomena of commodity fetishism in cosmetics advertisements had a big impacts towards the people as the consumers and the viewers.