In my book Commerce I talk about commerce being ultimately driven by consumer whims. I want to revise that term, it is not driven by whims. Once one has abundance it is driven by fetishism.
This all hit me when I was tasting "the best sashimi in Japan" after having drunk three or four glasses of "the best sake in Japan." (I could have tasted a coke with a Big Mac at that point and been impressed.)
We consumers are driven by fetishism. What other term could describe the doctors in my gym locker room who talk about wine they buy and drink, nearly every day...or bicyclists who know every detail of every bike, or people who know everything about clothes and fashion?
Nearly everything, in our world of abundance has become a fetish, from shoes, to coffee, to bottled water. Fetish is a more descriptive term than whim.
The opposite of consumer fetishism is simple living.