Commercialization of art

Traditional communities may find themselves under economic pressure to resort to commercialization of their traditional crafts, including objects which may be of considerable symbolic significance to their communities. Such commercialization progressively erodes the authenticity of such products, especially when plastic and other new materials are substituted for traditional materials. The symbolic life of traditional communities may be disrupted if the objects were originally designed to be seen or used by members of a particular group, possibly only on solemn and private occasions.

Tourism degrades native arts in two ways : first, the local artist is influenced to change his works of art because tourists are ignorant of the meaning of the art work and impose their very different taste; secondly, a commercial demand forces inferior quality, machine-made and mass-produced items to enter the market.