Anisha Castro Omar
PA 206

Status Signaling and Conspicuous Consumption:
The Demand for Counterfeit Status Goods

Counterfeiting is a multimillion pound business and one which depend on the complicity of the consumer. Often seen as a victimless crime, it is a difficult trade to control because as long as consumers desire brands, the greater the market for counterfeits.
Since almost no investments in brand name recognition and research & development are required, the production of these fake goods offers strong financial incentives to counterfeiters.
As modern technologies are available globally, the production of counterfeits has become less expensive and rather easy to set up. Unfortunately, revenues gained from counterfeiting are at the expense of legitimate marketers. The damage to their brand reputation and profits is tremendous. For consumers, purchasing of counterfeit products offers advantages as well. The fake or counterfeit products are usually of low physical, performance and financial risk, but carry the high image and prestige connected to a well-known brand name such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Rolex or Chanel. By buying the fake product instead of the original, the consumer takes advantage of the benefits sought-after from branded products, such as prestige, image or design, without paying for them.
The demand for counterfeit products may be considered an aspect of aberrant consumer behavior, however, only under the condition that the consumer willfully engages in this misbehavior. This aspect appears important, as the literature distinguishes two types of counterfeiting, namely deceptive and non-deceptive counterfeiting. In deceptive counterfeiting,

consumers do not realize that they are buying a counterfeit product. They rather believe to be buying the original product. Given that consumers are unaware of buying fake