INFORMATION ON FAKE PRODUCTS: NEED OF THE HOUR IN PROTECTING BRANDS

Currently we see the markets flooded with various kinds of apparels, foot wears, accessories etc. and thus new brands keeps on pouring in with passing time. Also with time the brand users know the brands they use and love. But the increasing popularity of the brands give rise to piracy as well and in the current scenario, you might find pirated products more than the real branded products, it’s shocking but it’s true which further gives rise to the insecurities to the brand owners because they do face a lot of loss in terms of finance and reputation due to piracy. Here protection of brands becomes an important issue which can be only dealt when there is information of piracy to the general public and brand owners. If we see closely it’s a two way loss, both to the brands and the general public.

Now a day’s all kinds of brands relating to different products all over the world is available in India and people are happy to use them and one such sector which is immensely flourishing is the footwear industry. Today, almost all the branded shoes are available in our country be it some designer shoes or some top notch classic shoe brands like Crocs, Red Tape etc. are easily accessible through rising market and technology. This also gives rise to the fake shoe products which are available in the local markets of India, and which though look similar but don’t match the quality of the original product at all. The material used in it is of low quality which can harm the consumer in many ways like some skin problems like corns in the feet which is very painful and not easily curable and one of the main reason of this disease is wearing bad or low quality shoes or sandals, further other reasons like discomfort while walking, shoe bites and also these products don’t last long which is why it is always recommended by experts even the doctors to wear shoes of good quality and as we know good quality comes with good brands.

India, as we know majorly comprises of the middle class people and they are the only targeted lot by the pirates and this is because of two major reasons:

• First, that they are not well aware of the brands they use and 
• Secondly, they have limited money to spend.

These two reasons are used in order to lure them to buy the cheap fake products. Also if the consumers find out that they have landed up with the fake products even then they don’t bother to complain which is not expected of them as this whole era is about one’s rights and protection of the same so if some of the rights are violated one should come up with it.

It’s not totally the responsibility of the consumers in the matter of fake products but the brands are also equally responsible for creating the awareness and circulating the information on fake products. They can come up with various ways of doing so:

• The very first and easy step which can be taken is to create awareness about their own brand in detail which can comprise of all the small details relating to the brand logo, authorized dealership, authorized retailers, authorized online retailers, different authorized stores all over the world, etc. this will automatically help the consumers to detect the fake products.

• Above, is the precaution that can be taken by the brand owners but what if they have to report piracy against their brands in India? This can be answered and simplified by the different online platforms provided for the registering of such complaints on fake products which can be registered by the brand owners or the consumers.  One such very popular platform is Brands and Fakes which provides all kinds of support regarding these cases.

But the major problem arises when the brand owners are unable to find proper platform which provides with brand protection services in India but one of the reliable and one stop answer for their problems is Brands and Fakes which is an online platform which offers brands owners the protection they require at all levels. So, it’s evident that the information and awareness on the fake pirated products is necessary in order to protect the brand value and reputation be it any industry or sector.