One thing travellers ought to know is that marketplaces around the world are full of fake products. If somebody is offering you a Louis Vuitton bag at a ridiculous price, then it’s not an LV bag. The same goes for all sorts of branded products that aren’t what they are supposed to be.
And the distinction between what’s legal and what isn’t applies even if the intended “recipient” is dead.
Many people are aware of the provenance of these fakes and are happy to pay a modest price for something that looks like the real thing.
Of course, there’s a crime involved here. Well, several crimes. The person who makes it, the person who sells it and the person who buys it (you) are all committing offences under international law.
The chances of you being fined or otherwise punished are remote, but they are real — especially if you’re buying in large quantities.
Fakes persist because authorities turn a blind lie, often in a tacit acknowledgement that they provide an income for their poor citizens, and sometimes because governments don’t see it as their role to enforce some big corporation’s right. Oh, and in some cases, there is corruption, with those charged with policing taking a small consideration to look the other way.
If you do buy these things, you may be putting dinner on a family’s table, bt you’re also robbing the low-income people who make the genuine articles. So it’s an ethical question for you to decide.
In any case, these products are disappearing from some places due to trade agreements and legal cases. The corporations, and their home governments, are showing less and less tolerance to having knock-offs of their products openly on sale in street markets and in “secret” rooms of otherwise legitimate shops.
And, it seems, not even the dead are going to get a free pass.
According to this report, Gucci has warned Hong Kong shopkeepers not to sell imitation products made out of paper and intended as offering to deceased relatives.
In a statement to the AFP news agency, the company said it respected the funeral process but “Gucci needs to protect its intellectual property, and does this across industries globally”.
PS: If you’re interested in this area and you in ever Thailand, the Museum of Counterfeit Goods in Bangkok may be worth a visit.
Update: Gucci has since apologised for the warning, says it has “utmost respect” for the funeral rites.
