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Special report: Faked in China: Inside the pirates' web

post #1 of 6
10/29/10 at 4:21pm
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http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69P1AR20101026
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post #2 of 6
10/30/10 at 2:17am
The article doesn't really touch the scope of the activity. I've read other reports that indicate electronics are being counterfeited perfectly, because the same factories that produce the real thing set up mirror factories to create unlicensed clones. I also know the problem, at least for DVDs, even exists outside China. I know I can buy burned films in Chinatown here - mostly purely Chinese with hilariously bad subtitles, but a handful of made-for-America Jet Li flicks as well.
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post #3 of 6
10/30/10 at 8:47am
Let's face it - the people buying counterfeit bags are in all likelihood not able to afford the real thing anyway, and are probably not the people the 'luxury' companies have in mind when they put out their fancy ads anyhow. Do they really think that if Mary Smith from Hicksville doesn't purchase that fake LV bag via eBay she would head over to a LV store for the real thing? Come on. When you really think about it - so much for those 'lost sales', eh? :unsure:
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post #4 of 6
10/30/10 at 1:46pm
I thought the lost sales came more from the product becoming linked with forgery. Rolex and Louis Vuitton being key examples. "The only thing worse than a fake Rolex is a real one" Once that kind of attitude is established by the aspirational classes it becomes very difficult to counter. At the same time I would never pull out an LV wallet in a bar because the over riding opinion would be that either it is fake or that I was showing off that its not fake. Both negative.
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post #5 of 6
10/30/10 at 2:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by apropos View Post
Let's face it - the people buying counterfeit bags are in all likelihood not able to afford the real thing anyway, and are probably not the people the 'luxury' companies have in mind when they put out their fancy ads anyhow.

Do they really think that if Mary Smith from Hicksville doesn't purchase that fake LV bag via eBay she would head over to a LV store for the real thing?

Come on.

When you really think about it - so much for those 'lost sales', eh? :unsure:

You don't think that hundreds of thousands of small timers carrying a Louis Vuitton bag dilutes the brand, and makes it seem less luxurious when you buy the real thing?

I don't disagree about your main point, but you seem to miss the fact that counterfeit goods can still drive off consumers of the authentic bags quite easily.
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post #6 of 6
10/30/10 at 8:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by onion View Post
You don't think that hundreds of thousands of small timers carrying a Louis Vuitton bag dilutes the brand, and makes it seem less luxurious when you buy the real thing? I don't disagree about your main point, but you seem to miss the fact that counterfeit goods can still drive off consumers of the authentic bags quite easily.
Yes, but that is a theoretical argument not supported by... well, the state of the world at present. Are there tens of thousands of small timers with fake LV bags out there right this instant? Yes. Are there hundreds of thousands of fake Rolexes out there? Yes. Has that demolished demand in any way for genuine LV goods or Rolex watches due to 'brand dilution'? Well, you just need to look to the stores and see the sales figures to see that is not the case. The cheesy folk who were going to buy monogrammed canvas goods in the first place will still go ahead and purchase it, the amount of fakes be damned. If anything, the 'brand dilution' comes from cheesy folk carrying the real thing, not poors carrying the faked items. I would get pissed off more if I saw Paris Hilton wearing a IWC Flieger than if I saw a random poor wearing a faked Flieger - the random poor is just wearing a fake, but Paris is diluting my brand equity.
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