Of Fauxleys and fakeleys

A friend asked me why there are those who bash out on social media about people buying imitation or fake products. She lamented that she cannot agree with them branding these people as social climbers for just buying counterfeit products.

Personally, I do not see any reason why somebody would buy something that is counterfeit of a signature brand. Especially if that somebody is aware that he is buying counterfeit. So why do we support counterfeit? It just don't make sense at all. Having an alligator logo on your shirt does not really make you look better. Having the check mark on your shoes or the oval logo on your sunglasses does not make you look any better at all as its just brand trademarks.

You can buy locally made products. Shoes and sandals from Carcar for example. They are not fake but they have good quality. Or other lesser known brands. Sometimes these lesser known brands have better quality than the branded ones. I would buy local and unbranded products instead of buying imitation from a used clothing stalls at flea markets.

Because a typical pinoy cannot afford the real thing, so most would resort to buy counterfeit or used clothing to fancy that he too can wear Lacoost, Romex and a pair of Fakeley sunglasses. This is a sad reality. And maybe that is why there are those that would brand people patronizing counterfeits as social climbers. Because maybe of the simple reason that they want to wear signature clothes but cannot afford the real thing.

In a typical pinoy scenario, buying counterfeit and imitations are normal. In fact this activity has been the norm. Another sad reality. Not only does this hurt the legitimate products but we become pirates in our own right. But then again, this is because of affordability. And I have to admit, some of these imitations have better durability and designs. So this is the reason more and more are buying counterfeits. Sad but true.

To be fair, those who do patronize imitations are not social climbers. They do buy these because of preference, the design, the fit and comfort, availability and most importantly, they are very affordable. More affordable than the legitimate local products and the lesser known brands.

However, I do wish that the society would change. They should realize that buying counterfeit can hurt the economy and the legitimate local products. And instead would support proudly made local products.