{"id":47167,"date":"2012-07-16T11:30:31","date_gmt":"2012-07-16T16:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/?p=47167"},"modified":"2013-11-08T03:46:46","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T08:46:46","slug":"why-the-rich-are-afraid-of-counterfeit-goods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/2012\/07\/16\/why-the-rich-are-afraid-of-counterfeit-goods\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Rich are Afraid of Counterfeit Goods"},"content":{"rendered":"

A while back I was summoned for jury duty and found myself being considered for a case against a young Latina with a court translator. \u00a0She was accused of selling counterfeit Gucci and Chanel purses on the street in L.A. \u00a0After introducing the case, the judge asked:\u00a0“Is any reason why you could not objectively apply the law?” My hand shot up.<\/p>\n

I said:<\/p>\n

I have to admit, I’m kind of disgusted that state resources are being used to protect the corporate interests of Chanel and Gucci.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then I gave a spiel about corruption in the criminal justice system and\u00a0finished up with:<\/p>\n

I think that society should be protecting its weakest members, not penalizing them for trivial infractions. There is no way in good conscience I could give that girl a criminal record, I don’t care if she’s guilty. Some things are more important than the rules.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I was summarily dismissed.<\/p>\n

Criminal prosecutions are one way to decrease counterfeiting and, yes, protect corporate interests and Shaynah H. sent in another: shame. \u00a0This National Crime Prevention Council<\/a>\/Bureau of Justice Assistance<\/a>\u00a0ad, spotted in a mall in Portland, tells you that if you buy knock-offs, you are “a phony.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yikes. \u00a0I would have preferred “savvy” or “cost-conscious.” \u00a0But, no, the message is clear. \u00a0You are a fake person, a liar, a hypocrite. \u00a0You are insincere and pretentious. \u00a0You are an impostor. \u00a0(All language borrowed from the word’s definition<\/a>.) \u00a0And these are not something that anyone wants to be.<\/p>\n

But, honestly, why does anyone care?<\/p>\n

I suspect that counterfeits don’t really cut into Chanel’s profits directly. \u00a0The people who buy bags that costs thousands of dollars are not going to try to save some pennies by buying a knock-off. \u00a0Or, to put it the inverse way, the people who are buying the counterfeits wouldn’t suddenly be buying the originals if their supply ran out.<\/p>\n

Instead, policing the counterfeiters is a response to a much more intangible concern, something Pierre Bourdieu called “cultural capital<\/a>.” \u00a0You see, a main reason why people spend that kind of money on handbags is to be seen as the kind of person who does. \u00a0The handbags are a signal to others that they are “that kind” of person, the kind that can afford a real Gucci. \u00a0The products, then, are ways that people put boundaries between themselves and lesser others.<\/p>\n

But, when lesser others can buy knock-offs on the street in L.A. and just parade around as if they can buy Gucci too! \u00a0Well, then the whole point of buying Gucci is lost! \u00a0If the phony masses can do it, it no longer serves to distinguish the elites from the rest of us.<\/p>\n

In this sense, Chanel and Gucci are very interested in reducing counterfeiting; the rich people who buy their products will only do so if buying them proves that they’re special.<\/p>\nLisa Wade, PhD<\/a> is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of <\/em>American Hookup<\/a>, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender<\/a>; and a forthcoming introductory text: <\/em>Terrible Magnificent Sociology<\/a>.\u00a0You can follow her on Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/em><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A while back I was summoned for jury duty and found myself being considered for a case against a young Latina with a court translator. \u00a0She was accused of selling counterfeit Gucci and Chanel purses on the street in L.A. \u00a0After introducing the case, the judge asked:\u00a0“Is any reason why you could not objectively apply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,2056,15],"class_list":["post-47167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-class","tag-crimelaw","tag-culture"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47167"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58293,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47167\/revisions\/58293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/socimages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}