Most suppliers of branded goods pour vast amounts of resources into protecting their brands from counterfeits, knockoffs or poor imitations. Within our industry we are all very aware, of what suppliers are trying to do to mitigate this.

However, the images below suggest, and this is not the first time I have said this , ‘you got no bloody chance ‘

Courtesy of carbuyer.co.uk, a U.K. Car Magazine.

I make no apologies about using pictures to paint this story .

This is an example of fake Cartier watch on a web site quite clearly stating it is a fake.

So do we all give up and go home. No, of course not, ‘cos if we did the fakers would have nothing to fake! Whilst we need to be diligent and aware of what is going on and discourage any vendors from selling these counterfeits, but to spend copious amounts of resources in trying to eliminate the fake, we should use those resources to develop, create and innovate and keep ahead of the flattering (there are better invectives) fakers. 

There is another aspect to counterfeiting, about which we need to be a little more circumspect. I don’t walk around with a halo around my head , and on trips, especially to the Far East but not uniquely, I have been tempted to buy the odd counterfeit watch. Its a strange phenomena, that when we leave these shores we think it is a bit of fun , but if we were offered the same item in a pub we would (or some would) exclaim ‘..we wouldn’t touch that with a barge pole..’ . Now I suspect there are very few decision makers  of all types of suppliers, importers and retailers who have not bought the odd counterfeit Gucci handbag, Louis Vuitton case or a Cartier watch for a ‘bit of fun’ in some foreign clime, down some dingy night market. Essentially are our actions any different from that consumer who buys a knock off of our own product that they happen to buy in their home country ?

No they are not.

 None of this a justification for a counterfeit. I am just trying to illustrate how tough it is to fight it from the supply end , and then how tough it is to change consumer psychology.