Less than net zero: Redirecting capitalist fantasies through fetishistic reversal

Abstract

Inspired by the work of Slavoj Žižek, critical marketing theorists have identified how ideological fantasies support the capitalist status quo by operating as unconscious fetishes that are difficult to dispel. While these studies suggest that fetishisation is a formidable challenge to critical thought and activism, this think piece considers how fetishistic reversal may provide a means to redirect the ideological fantasies of capitalism towards more critical ends. This line of thinking is pieced together by drawing Žižekean theories alongside the topical example of Net Zero. It is argued that Net Zero is not a politically-neutral target but rather an ideological fantasy that can be interrogated for fetishistic disavowals, inversions and ticklishness. However, it is added that renouncing Net Zero as an ideological fantasy is likely to be unproductive, or even counter-productive. Instead, critical marketing scholars should proceed by reversing fetishistic effects. Developing Žižek’s notion of Less Than Nothing, it is suggested that Net Zero should be transposed with the more radical target of Less Than Net Zero. This piece concludes by thinking about the application of fetishistic reversal to other socioecological issues in order to push critical marketing theory further towards a more optimistic horizon.