Sham by all means is Shame!

When I was working for Bata India almost a score years ago, the formidable footwear brand used to continuously achieve the top status in the list of top-of-mind (TOM) awareness brands among Indian consumers and it sustained its position off and on among other brands like Colgate, Surf, Lux, Dettol, Thums Up, Band Aid, Cadbury, etc. for quite a long time. The popularity of Bata was so high that consumers at large referred to any brand of thongs and chappals as Bata itself, instead of by the respective generic names. It was also a classic case of the Bata brand name becoming a generic name for footwear in India among the masses! Though the company never tried to extend the Bata brand name to non-footwear merchandise, save a few accessories like socks, bags and brushes, it did try its hand by extending a few of its own classic labels like Ambassador and North Star to apply to apparel only to meet with very limited success which did not last at all. Finally Bata aborted its own label apparel retailing. But local marketers adapted the brand Bata in a big way those days. One could even see Bata retail stores in small town high streets, merchandised almost the same way as original ones; one could see infringed Bata merchandise in the local markets; one could also not only see infringed Bata footwear but also merchandise ranging from inner wear to bags and bottles! The challenge for field managers like me who were very passionately trying to improve business in Bata’s own stores got affected a great deal by such spurious merchandise and such stores that had infringed Bata sign boards. I remember, there were days when we went all out in the interior markets with the mandate to bring perpetrators to book. Infringement and passing off of trademark were considered a big offence and brands like Bata were constantly after culprits and sought to trace each source and book all concerned in the entire pipeline – from manufacturing and distribution to retail.

A year ago, as I was showing off my prized acquisition, a Ballon Bleu, an elder colleague and friend said that he had a similar one - but graciously mentioned that it’s a feigned look-alike! He brought it to office to show me the piece of sham the next day and one could not believe how anyone could ever make out the difference between a genuine one and a fake in a such a high-end time device! In fact when we put it to test on a survey with a few of our colleagues almost an equal number chose the fake, mistaking it for the genuine one! My firend said that he purchased it in a fake goods market abroad out of curiosity!

Well, despite stringent laws against violation of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in China, the Silk Street Market in Beijing thrives with prosperity selling spurious goods of various high-end brands in the mall. The mall is a seven-storeyed complex having an endless row of shops selling counterfeits of luxury brands! The mall in fact is said to be ready for a great makeover with its remodeling going underway currently. According to reports, the mall may focus on improving the quality of the fake merchandise and may sell merchandise soon in a brighter, bigger and improved ambience! Recent newspaper reports have said that China’s battle against IPR violations is said to be on a losing ground. Silk Street market has fast become a tourist attraction and the mall gets thousands of footfalls every day and it boasts of the visit of even eminent people among its tourist customers! As replicas are difficult to be differentiated from genuine merchandise and as they cost ten to twenty times less than the originals, the attraction for acquiring the fake ones is said to be on the rise as a general purchase behavior among touring and pleasure seeking customers. There is also a mark-up of 100% on all merchandise as the stores offer visiting customers the pleasure of bagging the benefit of aggressive bargaining, which the Silk Street Market is famous for. The ever-augmenting popularity of the mall may soon put Silk Street Market on the tourist map in parity with that of the Great Wall and the Forbidden Palace - as must places to visit and enjoy!

Sham by all means is Shame!

Dr. Gibson G. Vedamani