Here we are in 2013, where something and someone can become a success literally overnight.
However with success comes emulation and with emulation often comes sadly counterfeit and fake… it is a sad part of the 21st century that when you see a young girl with a Chanel bag your first thought is not ‘wow look at that bag’ but ‘that’s a knock off’. Yet if the same young girl was getting out of a chauffeur driven car – it would not be given a second thought!
Piracy and counterfeits surround our lives these days and the sad thing is that the money made from these copies does not go to the people who made the initial product, film or song – but into the shadier world of organised crime. Those knock-off DVD’s you saw at a car boot sale along with the cigarettes you saw – do you think the money is going to the company who created them – NO!
I was shocked when I started looking at this issue, because there appear to be counterfeits of everything now! DVD’s and CD’s are the more palatable ones. Counterfeit alcohol? Cigarettes and Tobacco? Car parts? Washing Powder Medicine!?!
If you saw bottles labeled up as ‘almost Vodka, probably poison’ would you buy them? NO! Yet people will buy a bottle of knock off Vodka at a car boot sale or from someone who knows someone and not know what they are drinking! Bleach, industrial alcohol, ethanol, paint thinners? Would you risk your sight, your brain or your life to save a couple of quid on a bottle of Vodka? Because that is what we are talking about.
What about counterfeit tobacco products? What if you were sucking something really dangerous into your lungs that was more deadly than possibly getting cancer! Lead, Benzene, harsh pesticides. What if that brown leaf was not even a tobacco leaf and it was ‘filler’?
Counterfeits and illegal imports also rob UK plc of something it needs to survive – tax and duty! Less money in at UK plc means less money out and that means lower wages, lower spend on healthcare and welfare and education. So we all suffer!
Because you have no idea of what is in that bottle you could just as easily lose your life and that is a big price to pay for saving a couple of quid on a bottle of booze!
It is the same across every aspect of retail life. Anything almost that you can buy now – there is a copy of somewhere! Must have products like Prada Shoes, Ipads, CD’s, clothes, Mont Blanc pens, Burberry bags, watches, anything.
I was wearing an Abercrombie t-shirt in turkey a while back and a market trader asked if I had bought it there. I said it was not a fake one and he proceeded to show me almost the exact same t-shirt on his stall! Now there were differences in fabric quality and manufacture, but to the untrained eye – the exact same item! I am not sure I saw a single genuine article for sale on that trip watches, shoes, bags, belts, clothes all lovingly crafted to deceive and be sold in bulk. I can honestly say I saw more Rolex and Brietling watches in Turkey than I did in Rodeo Drive… Clearly there are less of the real thing!
This week, finally the UK is taking hold of the issue of ‘download counterfits’. Google has received requests in the last 8 months to remove 100 million links from its search engines that link to ‘download’ sites and file sharing sites… 100 Million of them! However as fast as they can block the links, they spring up again.
Every search engine available in the UK and every ISP should be able to block these sites. We know the technology exists which is how some countries protect themselves from outside influences. Yet we seem slack to act and protect the person or company who is being pirated.
If an artist receives 50 pence for every download of their latest album from legitimate sites like Amazon, Play and ITunes – they receive absolutely nothing from the pirate sites and the people who are effectively stealing the artists music are not offering to pay are they?
The ‘pirate and counterfeit’ industry, if we can call it that has grown so big because of one thing. US! As the recession dragged on and money was tighter people cut corners, they thought that it did not matter if they downloaded this or bought that at a car boot sale. However these same people if questioned as to whether they would like to work at 100% in their job and only get 80% of their take home pay would puff out their chests in indignation. Yet that is exactly what they are doing to car manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, chemical companies, movie and music companies, drinks manufacturers and countless other industrial giants and the pandemic is self perpetuating!
If less legitimate product is sold, the retailers makes less money and thus they can employ less people, there are more people on a budget who think it doesn’t matter, they won’t get caught – and the companies can afford it. Yet as retailers struggle even more, some lose the fight to survive and close. HMV suffer every time a counterfeit CD or DVD is sold and every time one is downloaded illegally and look what happened to HMV this year… Almost wiped out! Yet would it have been a different story if they had been able to sell more?
My thoughts here are simple… If you want to wear designer, buy designer. If you want to drink Vodka buy real vodka, if you need drugs like Viagra get them from your GP, if you need an alloy wheel for your German car, get it at the dealer and if you are happy lighting up a cigarette that could be laden with lead and benzene – good luck.
But remember that the UK smoker pays a lot in duty because the health service needs the money to support people who get sick and if there is no money left in your health authority because UK plc did not get enough duty on cigarettes and alcohol… you know why. If your car’s wheels shatter at high speed, you know why and if you take a pill to prolong your partners pleasure and you have a stroke – you know why. Just take responsibility for doing it. Don’t tell anyone you had no idea they were bad for your health or our economy!
Support the British economy, buy your products and medicine from reputable stores – not from a grubby looking man hidden on a stall at a car boot sale. Buy the real thing and savor the fact that you bought it, relish in the fact that it is real – don’t risk your life with a copy!
