Book Description
Why would anyone deliberately set out to buy a counterfeit?
This is the question The Fake Factor steps out to answer. On the journey it
explores the reasons why the brand's evil twin, the fake, has gained a
following in its own right. There are many who think it's ridiculous to buy
the real thing while there's a cheap copy readily available at a local
market stall. Ripping through the complexity of international intellectual
property law (totally inconsistent), the rise of the Yuppie, our increasing
dependence on credit and the influence of celebrities and peer groups, The
Fake Factor is a sociological guide to our current buying habits whether we
favour brands, non-brands or "faux brands" A must for marketing
professionals, students and anyone who is interested in knowing more about
how marketers use their brands' identities to help us part with out cash.
This is the question The Fake Factor steps out to answer. On the journey it
explores the reasons why the brand's evil twin, the fake, has gained a
following in its own right. There are many who think it's ridiculous to buy
the real thing while there's a cheap copy readily available at a local
market stall. Ripping through the complexity of international intellectual
property law (totally inconsistent), the rise of the Yuppie, our increasing
dependence on credit and the influence of celebrities and peer groups, The
Fake Factor is a sociological guide to our current buying habits whether we
favour brands, non-brands or "faux brands" A must for marketing
professionals, students and anyone who is interested in knowing more about
how marketers use their brands' identities to help us part with out cash.
From the Author
Why is a t-shirt with a brand name on it worth up to 20 times more than one of exactly the same quality with no logo? Or rather, why will people pay that much more for it? In The Fake Factor, you can read all about the reasons, in my words and those of the nice people who helped with the research, why so much extra value is placed on branded goods.
Some people will happily fork out extra cash for recognisable brand names and logos both for the quality and the image. Others aspire to owning them but don't have the money. This creates a huge market (around 10% of word trade) for illegal counterfeiters to flourish. In the West where we have a vast choice of branded and unbranded goods, what makes purchasers pick the illegal ones? Many people question the ethics of knockoffs and refuse to have anything to do with market stall and internet 'bargains' brands, but the majority see them as a bargain, hunt them out and are delighted with the savings they reckon they've made. In the same way that smokers know that smoking can kill them, people who buy fakes know they are illegal, but kid themselves that it doesn't really do any harm. What I've done is to use my experiences as a marketing strategist and a committed shopper to give a reader some business, sociological and personal context; I hope to make people think twice before they buy any branded product, genuine or counterfeit. Even if you don't consider youself to be brand conscious, after reading The Fake Factor you'll probably still find yourself asking a few more questions the next time you visit the supermarket. (That's my heartfelt hope!) The French manufacturers' association consider Highland Spring Water and all others packaged in green, pear shaped, glass bottles to be counterfeits of Perrier. If you get a dressmaker to copy a new Chanel design, is that illegal? How about if you make 50 and sell them to your friends? What about if you sew on a Chanel logo? Even the intellectual property lawyers can't decide. In the US it's legal to import a counterfeit handbag from China - but just the one. In France you could go to prison. Interpol, the anti-counterfeiting groups and anti-terrorist organisations won't make any progress catching the criminals behind counterfeit goods until we all stop buying them. It's down to us to make our own decisions about where to draw the line in the business of copying and counterfeiting other people's work.
Some people will happily fork out extra cash for recognisable brand names and logos both for the quality and the image. Others aspire to owning them but don't have the money. This creates a huge market (around 10% of word trade) for illegal counterfeiters to flourish. In the West where we have a vast choice of branded and unbranded goods, what makes purchasers pick the illegal ones? Many people question the ethics of knockoffs and refuse to have anything to do with market stall and internet 'bargains' brands, but the majority see them as a bargain, hunt them out and are delighted with the savings they reckon they've made. In the same way that smokers know that smoking can kill them, people who buy fakes know they are illegal, but kid themselves that it doesn't really do any harm. What I've done is to use my experiences as a marketing strategist and a committed shopper to give a reader some business, sociological and personal context; I hope to make people think twice before they buy any branded product, genuine or counterfeit. Even if you don't consider youself to be brand conscious, after reading The Fake Factor you'll probably still find yourself asking a few more questions the next time you visit the supermarket. (That's my heartfelt hope!) The French manufacturers' association consider Highland Spring Water and all others packaged in green, pear shaped, glass bottles to be counterfeits of Perrier. If you get a dressmaker to copy a new Chanel design, is that illegal? How about if you make 50 and sell them to your friends? What about if you sew on a Chanel logo? Even the intellectual property lawyers can't decide. In the US it's legal to import a counterfeit handbag from China - but just the one. In France you could go to prison. Interpol, the anti-counterfeiting groups and anti-terrorist organisations won't make any progress catching the criminals behind counterfeit goods until we all stop buying them. It's down to us to make our own decisions about where to draw the line in the business of copying and counterfeiting other people's work.
The plan is that The Fake Factor will help you to make your mind up where you stand on the issue (particularly if you didn't realise it was an issue in the first place).
About the Author
Sarah McCartney is best known for writing The Lush Times, the house magazine for Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics. As a maverick marketer she advises companies on how to do well in business by keeping customers very happy. As a member of the 26 management team she has contributed chapters to 26 Letters and From Here to Here, both published by Cyan. She is also a qualified teacher of Iyengar yoga and regards to two sides of her career as perfectly compatible as long as you do them both for the right reasons.
