Last Thursday night was an ordinary evening. I met two girlfriends for drinks at the Green Mill, we talked, we laughed, we ate fattening foods, and we came home. Wait; there was one more thing that we did that night: we picked up our counterfeit merchandise from the UPS warehouse and shared secret smiles about the amount of money we had just saved.
Did anyone else think that my last paragraph was a little strange to announce so nonchalantly? To be honest, that is the way I thought about our counterfeit purchases until about 30 minutes ago when I opened the MSN homepage. That is when I learned that over 750,000 jobs and billions of dollars are lost to counterfeiting each year in the United States. Check out the "Spot the Fake" quiz!
I hadn’t realized that the fake Coach and Burberry purses that I ordered from China twice a year were putting people out of work. I thought I was being a wise consumer and saving myself some money during hard economic times. Okay, maybe that’s a bit over the top, but I really didn’t think my purchases were negatively impacting our economy in such a huge way.
On the flip side, the Chinese economy has benefitted a thousand fold from the increased demand for counterfeit products. China is where almost 85% of counterfeit goods come from and where nearly 35 million people are employed by manufacturers of counterfeit goods. Manufacturers of fake goods have been able to provide jobs to people that used to work for companies that manufactured the real version of the products they’re now copying.
Counterfeit does not just apply to purses anymore. Shoes, watches, jewelry, electronics, even medicines and other health products are available in the fake variety, often at a deeply discounted rate. The fact that companies are offering fake medicines and other health products are deeply concerning to me, and I can see why counterfeiting is more and more in the public spotlight.
Fake medicines are something that have the potential to kill you. It’s not like a fake purse that looks nice without costing you an arm and a leg. Real medicines are not something to be messed with, so I cannot imagine who thought throwing fake medicines in the mix would be a good idea.
The United States FDA estimates that over 10% of the global medicines market is comprised of counterfeit medicines. Up to 25% of the medicines used in poor or third-world countries are counterfeit. This puts the earnings of counterfeit medicine manufacturers over $32 billion a year!
As so many of the articles that I found about this topic said, we really need to address this problem with the consumers. The only reason the manufacturers are still making fake products is because the consumers are demanding them, in ever-increasing quantities. If we can educate the consumers about the harm these fake products are causing, perhaps we can strike at the manufacturers that way. If we can couch the argument in terms of the dollars we will save in the long run by buying real, perhaps that will tip the scales slightly. I know it’s just a small step in the big scheme of things, but the purses I picked up last Thursday will be my last designer bags, both fake or real!
What are your thoughts on counterfeit products, both accessories and medicines? Do you think we’ll be able to curb the spending on the fake and bring those billions of dollars back into our suffering economy?
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I looked through and voted on those products and I was amazed to see how similar they looked. It reminded me of the recent lawsuit Coach filed against Target. I wonder why other companies/designers aren't going after those who are copying their designs. I certainly had a hard time distinguishing the real from the fake. What I'm wondering is who's making these fake products, and why do they have the same name on it? Isn't that illegal? Like the Michael Kors cologne...they looked almost identical! That makes me wonder if there's a difference between the Paris Hilton perfume I bought at Gordman's and the same stuff I bought at Macy's...
ReplyDeleteVery interesting blog! I did not know that by purchasing “mock” brands is putting people out of jobs. It seems like such a great idea, to pay less and have it look like the real thing. The average person is going to usually go with the cheaper item, especially if it still looks just like the original. I feel the same way about medications; it is scary when they start messing around with things that can really affect us. It may sound like a great idea to buy the cheaper medications, but in the end paying more may pay off. I think it is going to take a long time and a tremendous plan to bring all the money we need back into the suffering economy.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree that it's not fair to the real brand that the counterfeiters are making so much money off of their designs, I don't agree with the numbers in terms of money lost. Here's why--I would never spend $500 on a designer bag. Never. I don't care if I'm rolling in money. But I would spend $30 or whatever to buy one that looks like the real thing to be fashionable or if I just like the look of it.
ReplyDeleteI think that is true of most people who buy most of those counterfeits. People buy them because they want the look, not necessarily the quality.
The fakes are becoming much better mimics. It used to be you could tell very easily when someone had a knock-off. But now, it's much harder to tell. I bought a fake pair of nikes off ebay and didn't realize they were fake until I got them and they fell apart in a week. I think it's one thing to buy a fake knowing full well it's a fake--like buying a Coach purse. But it's another matter when you are tricked.
And as for wanting a look, I suppose I've been a counterfeiter my whole life--in middle school I wanted a pair of Guess jeans so badly but there was no way we could afford them. So when my friends who did have them gave me a pair of hand-me-downs that were too small for me, I just took the label off the pocket and sewed it onto a pair of target jeans. Of course, anyone who knew what guess jeans really looked like knew the difference, but from a distance, everyone thought I had THE jeans. Yes, very very sad.
I think it is wrong, but I cannot see it changing any time soon. If it is not directly affecting the individuals buying the merchandise, then they are not going to stop purchasing it. It is going to take much large steps to minimizing the products before any change will be made. Consumers are not going to do anything about it even though they should. It is going to take regulations from the government, and increased enforcement for anything to be done. It is sad, but it is the truth.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I have one or two handbags in my closet that have questionable heritage. Then I have several others that are the Real McCoy’s. Several years ago I would have thought nothing about a knock-off but now I must admit that I want to carry and own true designer items.
ReplyDeleteYet I do not want to pay an outrageous amount of money for the items. This is when I drive to the outlet shops in Lancaster PA to purchase previous years designs at dramatically discounted prices from the actual company. The Tangert outlet has shops such as Coach, Fendi, Gucci and more. I know I get the real items and buying a new designer doesn’t have an adverse affect on my checkbook.
One thing though, did you know that many designers products lines are manufactured in China and Mexico?