The Conundrum Of Fake And Real Goods
There’s an pretty common idea that genuine products are good and counterfeit products are bad. By and large, this proves true due to obvious design errors or poor quality materials used in counterfeit goods. I think where things get confusing is when you counterfeit goods become very well made with high quality materials.
Case in point, I bought a counterfeit Louis Vuitton wallet in Dongmen Shopping Center in Shenzhen, China. It cost 100 RMB ($15), 5% the cost of the genuine wallet ($300). It had the same pattern you see below and was made with a slightly less high quality leather than the Louis Vuitton version. I liked the design and needed a new wallet.
A few weeks later I had dinner with a friend, who is a successful Chinese businessman. When I pulled my wallet out to pay, he pulled his out, and in the Chinese fashion, pushed mine away. He then noticed that we had the same wallet. He held his up to mine to compare.
“Exactly the same!” he exclaimed proudly.
I’m pretty sure that Mr Liu’s wallet was not a $15 knockoff, but instead cost him $400-$500 at one of Shenzhen’s many LV stores. I didn’t mention it less for fear of showing him that i’m déclassé but because I didn’t want him to feel bad that he paid so much more for the same wallet.
The fake Apple story that is popular right now will really challenge the idea of genuine versus counterfeit especially if it is found that the devices are identical. Identical except instead of being manufactured at the Foxconn plant in Longgong, they were produced down the street using the same parts or possibly similar parts using the same templates, machines and components. To be sure, the retail price of an iPhone or iPad is not indicative of the manufacturing cost. And the same for my Louis Vuitton wallet. I really doubt that Mr Liu’s LV wallet is comprised of anywhere near $300-400 worth of materials and craftsmanship. What do I think it costs to produce? $20. What do I think an iPhone costs Apple to produce (minus advertising, etc)? About $75.
Let’s assume that counterfeiters will have to use higher quality materials and pay closer attention to design nuances, and sooner or later the fake looks and works identically to the genuine article. If a fake is so good that an expert cannot tell that it’s fake, is it fake? You might say that the Louis Vuitton wallet is produced somewhere in France, so the real one must be produced in France. McDonald’s hamburgers, ideally, should be produced in America but are often produced (and cooked and sold) elsewhere, and they taste the same anywhere you go.
Let’s for a moment consider that what is real is not a brand (a rather nebulous and antiquated idea dating back to times when brands were literally branded into products) but rather something that can pass the inspection of an expert with all the senses and tools available. A McDonald’s hamburger is an idea and a concept, not necessarily a thing. You can find recipes online on how to replicate pretty much every popular restaurant food at home by following strict instructions and ingredients. I’ve tried some of these, and they are the same. So you would still call the thing a “Red Lobster Cheese Biscuit“, because that is the name we’ve given it. But you didn’t have to buy it from a Red Lobster restaurant. Oftentimes Pink Berry knock off joints are actually better than Pinkberry.
While also in China I watched a lot of pirated movies. It was the only option. On every street corner is a movie store with DVDs that cost 4RMB (60 cents) each. While these movies were fake, they didn’t seem fake other than the bad english translations, which I didn’t need anyway, and sometimes they were poor quality (hmm.. guy getting up to get popcorn isn’t apart of this movie). In the same way that I experienced the exhilaration of owning a Louis Vuitton wallet, I also enjoyed hundreds of movies. If they were fake, they sure seemed real.
A Mercedes-Benz is a very nice car but a 2011 Mercedes-Benz does not have the same craftsmanship and raw materials than a 1999, nor is a Mercedes-Benz licensed to be produced in China the same as the one you would buy in Germany or the United States. Is the Chinese made MBZ fake? Not according to Mercedes Benz. They’ve “licensed” it.
Oh.
A license.
I see.
I think in some ways, demystifying real and fake will work wonders to demystify expensive bullshit that people waste their money on. I’m not arguing for buying counterfeit goods, i’m arguing that you should turn off the part of your brain that sees things with a fancy brand as valuable. They are worth what an exchange of rich people will pay for them, and you aren’t rich, and by association many non-rich persons having a luxury branded item is lowering the value of that item.
How much was my Louis Vuitton wallet worth to me? $15. (The shopkeeper wanted $25).
How much was it worth to Mr Liu? $500.
How much was it worth to my friend Gary who I sold it to, after receiving a very nice genuine Vivienne Westwood wallet as a gift?
$20.
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Tagged with authentic versus counterfeit, conundrum, counterfeit, fake apple store, fake louis vuitton wallet
I agree on some points, but disagree on others, and am kind of amazed at some seemingly-obvious errors on your part. Yes, expensive brands for most everyday items are status symbols, people know that, and for those types of items (sunglasses, wallets, anything made with small amounts of non-propietary materials), the status is what people are buying. Utility takes a back seat along with style for some who want that LV or D&B on their wallets or glasses.
But the points you made concerning food… I wholly disagree. First off, McDonald’s burgers in other countries often DO taste different, usually on purpose to appeal to the country’s collective palette. And second, I don’t care if you have the recipe for some lobster dish or whatever, it is highly unlikely that it will look or taste “just like the real thing”. Unless the real thing is made in a standard home kitchen, or you have restaurant-grade cooking equipment at home, it wont be the same at all.
The point you made about movies is just plain retarded. Ignoring the fact that you’re likely not watching the film on a theatre-sized screen, anything less than a near-PERFECT copy, meaning not a cam recording with people standing up and blocking the screen, is garbage. I often wait until a good copy of something is available before watching it; why would I tarnish my experience e by watching a shit copy just so I could see it immediately?
For many things, the production quality is still unmatched in knock-offs, while for some, the products are so simple that the knock-offs actually CAN replicate the extra stitching or water-resistant screws. Thankfully, knock-off manufacturers are finally taking the extra time to do these things since they realize they still make a profit. Most of the time, though, knock-offs have to be considered short-term throwaways, since many still are of lesser quality. If you don’t care that much about quality in the first place (movies recorded on a handheld cam, for instance), then you’re easier and cheaper to please. But in many cases, it is far from the same.
Oh, and Apple sucks balls. They are the epitome of buying a brand-status-symbol, and cultivate primarily rich, stupid, conceited or otherwise snooty people who believe it when Apple continually tells them they’re so “different” and “better”. Apple is the North Korea of tech, and unfortunately, so many people in the world are stupid and like shiny-smooth things that they ignore or don’t care about the fact that Apple denies their customers things like functionality or choice. But hey, the iPhone sure LOOKS nice, and it has some old technology with a fancy label so it sounds new! Must get!
I hate idiots.
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“restaurant-grade cooking equipment”? a bigger kitchen and larger utilities = more food produced. it doesn’t alter or enhance the taste, you fucking retard.
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Kiss my ass you SOB, do you really think you can make processed fast food style food with the tools in your kitchen? learn to read and comprehend before you put down the curious george books and get on the big internet.
EnigmaNerd. I probably did make some errors, keep in mind that I don’t usually spend more than 30 minutes on a post anymore so the ideas are unlikely to be fully fleshed out, however the point regarding food still stands.
I wasn’t pointing out that they don’t make changes for regional tastes, I was pointing out that in cases where changes for regional tastes aren’t necessary, it tastes exactly the same.
The movie point was a little bit of a stretch on my part but most of the quality was quite good, usually DVD pre-release copies, and in those cases it wasn’t a theater experience but what is besides the theater?
Agreed regarding Apple.
I find it pretty amusing when a counterfeit product tends to work better or outlast it’s genuine counterpart.
But of course, you have the zealots who swear on everything brand name and break out in hives if anything un-authentic touches them. I’ve heard arguments for the buying of such products with lines like, “You get what you pay for” and “You’ll end up spending more in the long run for fake merchandise”.
Hm.
$725 for a Chanel handbag
$35 for a knock off
Same apparent materials, probably crafted by the same people Chanel contracts overseas. Even if you multiply by 5, that’s still a ways to go from paying for the real thing. Plus, if you’re burning through that many handbags, you might actually be suffering from a medical disorder. I’d seek out help immediately.
Awesome post, as usual, Andy.
You can expect a counterfeit present from me this year under your Xmas tree.
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I’ve waited for some time for this but andy this was worth it, great as usual, I enjoyed reading it especially since I used to work on a market, the amount of fake goods was amazing. Some of it was good stuff much like the wallet you described in this post you could not tell it was fake. I could write a lot about what I learned about fake goods and selling them on the markets, of course they weren’t my goods I was just helping to get paid. People would get caught and get fined, we had to dodge trading standards and put the fake stuff in another van, getting it away before or just as they arrived to inspect us. There’s a hell of a lot to it. People knew it was fake but because it was good they brought it anyway. I was selling trainers. all sorts.
Great read as usual, thanks for giving me something interesting to read and a good idea.
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[...] I recently read a brilliant article regarding counterfeit goods here: http://www.misanthropytoday.com/the-conundrum-of-fake-and-real-goods/ [...]
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Seriously some of the most hilarious stuff I’ve seen. You gotta watch!
http://www.TheRaptorHunter.com. There are two episodes and two trailers. Here are links to the episodes.
Episode 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OUBItlWlvE
Episode 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oaUn6Nn9TM
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Interesting point about movies. Whenever asked about why the cost of a movie is so much more than the cost of the bare material of the product itself, we’ve always been told that the bulk of the cost is paying for the intellectual property.
Could someone then explain why I had to pay the full cost of a DVD, and will have to pay again the full cost of a Blu Ray disk even though I’ve already purchased an original of a movie in VHS?
Surely I’ve already paid for the intellectual property and should just pay for a upgrades?
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