begins as a representation, soon becomes a substitute

In a wide-ranging study (L’image interdite, 1994) the French
philosopher Alain Besançon has argued that the fear and suspicion of
images has influenced the development of religion and philosophy
throughout recorded history, and has not disappeared merely because we
are now surrounded and distracted by images on every side and at every
moment of the day. Indeed, much of what disturbs people in our
image-saturated culture is what disturbed the theologians of Islam:
namely, that the “graven image,” which begins as a representation,
soon becomes a substitute. And substitutes corrupt the feelings that
they invite, in the way that idols corrupt worship, and pornography
corrupts desire. For substitutes invite easy and mechanical responses.
They short-circuit the costly process whereby we form real
relationships, and put mechanical and addictive reflexes in their
place. The idol does not represent God: it defaces Him, in something
like the way pornography defaces love.

Roger Scruton, From Christ to Coke, Prospect 187 (24 August, 2011)