Keeping it Real: fake goods do not have to be ingested to be lethal

Implications: 1.    Counterfeit goods have been a virus on the global economy by fueling the gray market 2.    Counterfeit goods give rise to substandard working conditions and the employment of child labor 3.    The lack of consumer concern and willingness to purchase counterfeit luxury goods may have contributed to the recent surge of counterfeiting across multiple categories.

Analysis: The luxury market often sets the pace on consumer trends.   Counterfeiting of global luxury brands have been prevalent and increasing at an alarming rate for the past decade.   

While it has been of grave concern to global luxe companies, consumer trends have reflected a nonchalant attitude and willingness to buy fake name brands such as Rolex, Cartier, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Gucci, to name a few.

While the consumer may not have realized the macro impact of this purchasing pattern, legitimate factories of mass/moderate and better goods were being impacted from a rise manufacturing facilities that catered to knocking off luxe brands for less.   It is a reasonable assumption that factory owners supporting illegal gray market merchandise may also break other laws including child labor and/or  substandard working conditions for all employees.

While global luxury brands fought vigorously to make the public aware of this epidemic, many global consumers thought it was ‘fab to wear fake’ and continued to purchase gray market goods.   What consumers did not fully realize was the impact of their purchasing decisions would lead to the further proliferation of products produced by the Chinese gray market.

Now that ingested products are turning up fake, consumers may realize that in order to protect the public interest, all products must be carefully monitored so that counterfeiting is stopped across all consumer categories.