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Commodity narcissism
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The concept of commodity narcissism was put forward by Dr Robert Cluley and Dr Stephen Dunne in their paper 'From Commodity Fetishism to Commodity Narcissism' published in Marketing Theory. Simply put, they argue that we must understand consumption as an aggressive act that allows people to satisfy their narcissistic urges. They apply this idea to the ongoing paradox of consumer ethics where consumers claim to be concerned with ethical issues yet continue to consumption unethical products. Cluley and Dunne propose that these consumers are acting out their narcissism needs here. In other words, through consumption they have found a socially acceptable way to act out their aggressive tendencies and to damage the world around them. The concept can also be understood as a comment on the relationship between two key social theorists: Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud. Marx develops the concept of commodity fetishism early in his work but quickly moves on to discuss ideology. Yet a great many theorists of consumption continue to rely on the concept of commodity fetishism to explain consumer behaviours including Bauman and . In contrast, Freud offers a more developed explanation of fetishism throughout his works linking it, increasingly, to narcissism. Yet, his works in the area are largely overlooked by consumer researchers. Prior examples of the term being used include an essay by Simon Stander. 
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