As an example of a commodity fetish I am going to look into the electric car industry, with Tesla being the leading electric vehicle brand world-wide, and its owner Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, whose net worth equals $199.8 billion dollars. I chose this particular example because the car industry has been one of the largest contributors of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (along with cow manure, but that’s another story), putting profit over environmental concerns. This has created one of the most powerful lobbies in the US, which has led to general neglect of public transportation infrastructure in this country, blatantly scarifying the advantage of the well developed public infrastructure in the pursuit of money by the ruling elite. An important example of this deliberate strategy was when GM controlled companies purchased Trolley companies around the US after WWII and shut them down, replacing them with buses.
It’s worth noting that the greenhouse emissions from transportation account for about 29 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making it the largest contributor of U.S. GHG emissions. Therefore, undoubtedly, electric vehicles (EVs) are an important part of meeting global goals on climate change.
In Marx’s critique of political economy, he uses the term commodity fetish to describe the relations of production meaning how things are made and what are social relations of creating the work: where the materials and ideas originate and who owns them.
While Tesla wants to present itself as a new type of company (patent pledge, reduction of the impact on the environment, no advertising budget) it is still operating within the framework of the capitalist superstructure and base relying on the factories and class system as far as manufacturing of it’s commodities.
Capitalism breaks apart production, distribution and consumption, scaling up and increasing productivity but mystifying the social relations. Tesla’s PR in the US has been emphasizing that their cars are 100% American, made in the US, presenting the ethos of keeping it at home, and transforming the international nature of the global economy. However, all the Tesla cars sold in Europe are made in China and then assembled in a factory in Germany. The Chinese workers who produce the parts of the Tesla car then assembled in Europe and sold on the European market make only a fraction of the revenue generated by the workers’ end product whether that be the Tesla Model 3 or any of the hybrid cars. Also, as the cars are actually assembled in Europe in the German factory, the German factory worker is paid 3 times more than the Chinese one, although there is not much difference in the labour they provide. The Chinese factory worker in 2019 made around 78,145 yuan with an exchange rate $1=6.45 yuan equals $12,000, while the workers in Germany made on average 27,492 euros which is approximately $32,000.
Whether we look at the wage of a Chinese worker or the German worker, these wages are only a fraction of the revenue generated by the workers’ end product. While they create the “surplus value” turning raw materials into luxurious electric cars, or in other words, saleable commodities, the workers are not remunerated adequately for the work they do, and the “surplus value” becomes capitalists’ profit. Workers are paid far less than what they are truly owed. Capitalism is characterized by this systematic ‘theft’ of surplus value from the workers.
Using Tesla as an example, I also want to show how the commodity fetish within one industry can shift. Originally while the workers were manufacturing the cars, the intellectual property belonged to the Tesla shareholders. However in 2014 Tesla announced that “it will not initiate patent lawsuits against anyone who, in good faith, wants to use its technology”.
Tesla believes that the open source philosophy to their patents will strengthen rather than diminish their position as the leader within the EVs industry. Indeed, the company maintained their position as the number one producer of EVs to date.
Because of the image of Tesla as an environmentally conscious (even though EVs aren’t 100% environment friendly!), technologically and socially innovative company (open source, patent pledge), and the personal brand of its CEO Elon Musk, the car itself becomes fetishized reinforcing the image of upper-class superiority who can afford such luxury. The Model 3 starts at $41,190, compared to one of the cheapest cars on the US market, the Mitsubishi Mirage at $15,290 or the cheapest electric car in 2021 Mini Cooper at $30,750.
Fetishization helps maintain capitalism. Tesla comes with the whole idea of a lifestyle for a modern, environmentally conscious consumer. The truth is that while no greenhouse gas emissions directly come from EVs, they run on electricity that is, in large part, still produced from fossil fuels in many parts of the world. Energy is also used to manufacture the vehicle – and, in particular, the battery.
The Tesla brand is complex, and even though the company doesn’t have any advertising budget, that also is a part of the luxury ethos as it relies on the exposure through the web of modern influencers, whose taste and prominence within the dominant culture is regarded as superior to the traditional advertising channels.
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