Week 3: Counterfeit

Mahima Rupakula
913734418
4/13/19

Week 3: Counterfeit

The article that I chose to focus my response on was "When the original is beyond reach" which analyzed the attitudes of different consumers both culturally and psychologically in order to understand why certain markets are more open to buying counterfeit items. Germany and Korea were chosen as the target markets in question, as the two cultures are more focused around luxury and a brand focused society. China was discussed briefly, however China was seen as more of an outsourcing society that wasn't as deeply focused on a luxury based market. 

Figure 2: Real vs. Fake Prada 

I think that the pressure that certain types of cultures place on status is what truly lends itself to the formation of counterfeit items. As the article states, price wasn't the only factor that contributed to counterfeit manufacturing, due to psychological aspects of the matter. Personally, I think I wouldn't buy counterfeit items, just because I would rather save the money I would've used for counterfeit items and spend it on the real item instead! However, I understand the psychological appeal.

My questions about this article are:

How does the counterfeit market change when brands are perceived differently from the public? Say a certain brand loses public opinion or the public's perception changes, could we possibly study how counterfeit trends follow the trends of real companies in market?

My second question is, does the economic disparity of a country control how open the public and culture is to counterfeit items?