Five Ways to Stop Consumers From Buying Bootlegs

Purses, DVDs, prescription drugs: what do these items have in common? They're all being produced by the booming industry of counterfeit manufacturing.

The MIT Sloan Management Review recently published "Getting Real About Fakes," an article written by Peggy E. Chaudhry and Stephen A. Stumpf that gives advice about discouraging consumers from buying counterfeit products.

Here's what you can do:

• 1. Figure out why customers buy fakes: The authors identified several reasons people buy counterfeits, including: belief that a fake was equal in quality; inability to afford a genuine product; dislike for corporate producers; lack of moral qualms about buying fakes; and ease of obtaining bootlegs.
• 2. Convince consumers that fakes are inferior: Movie studios, for example, have produced ads showing the poor quality of bootleg films.
• 3. Emphasize that bootleggers are in it for the money, too: When bootleggers take on big corporations like the pharmaceuticals, some consumers may think of them as Robin Hoods, providing drugs at low prices. So corporations should send the message that bootleggers actually harm consumers by offering ineffective and often dangerous substitutes.
• 4. Highlight your company's good deeds: Bootleggers likely aren't supporting research or giving away a portion of their funds to charities. Let consumers know that you are.
• 5. Stress ethics: Whether it's counterfeit drugs funding organized crime or bootleg designer t-shirts being made by sweatshop workers, buying fake products likely goes against many consumers' values. Stress the moral repercussions of giving money to pirates.

Companies must push for tougher, more effective policing of both the legitimate and illicit supply chain and sharper penalties. They must also come up with speed bumps that make it harder for crooks to copy their goods.

Bootleg handbag image courtesy of Flickr user antimony funk, CC 2.0