Sorry, I didn't mean to take the post off-topic, my comments about Bush definitely were way OT
. But to my partial defense, I think the nature of the post is political.
I can give you a response of what I believe about the whole terrorism and fake purses relationship but I have a feeling most of the people on the board won't like it. I would like to hear others' opinions though, hopefully I am not the only one who feels like they are being duped???
I believe that LV and other designer labels are using terrorism as an excuse to put down fakes and then, in turn, using the presence of fakes to justify their outrageous price increases. I am of course against counterfeits and fakes for the very reason that it's just plain poser-ish to try to be what you're not. Not to mention fakes look totally gross
But I do understand why people would want to buy them. They want to appear of a higher social status than they really are. It only makes me more grateful that I am lucky enough to afford LV. I think that the standard of living of those of us on this forum tend to be much higher than the rest of America. And for those who scrimp and save to afford LV one piece at a time, of course I don't blame you for doing so, but would you honestly do the same if the status associated with carrying an LV was not there?
Today the status symbol is stronger than ever and I think materialism in our society has multiplied in the past 10 years. Not to say it was never there before, but the line between the haves and have-nots has never been more clear, so to speak, because it's so easy to show off your status (real or faked). In this new bourgeois society you're judged by the bag you carry, what you wear, and the car you drive. Did you know that over 80% of BMW and Mercedes cars moved off lots today are LEASED? This has jumped up from about 30% 10 years ago, and the sheer number of cars moved has increased exponentially as well. These cars used to be rare because only those who could truly afford to owned them, but now they are a dime a dozen. It's so clear that people are buying into image so much more. $1000 is the new $100. So what does LV do? They're not stupid... they jump on the opportunity to expand profits whenever possible. They're going to increase the prices (3 times this year, to be exact) because they CAN, because people today more than ever are willing to buy into luxury and image.
The fake backlash has not cut into their sales, but rather into their image, persay. The whole matter boils down to copyright infringement, the same law you would use for prosecuting illegal downloading and file sharing. The problem with this is that it's a gray-area law. Nobody is technically being hurt by infringing on a label or person's copyright. On top of that, it's really hard to care when the only victim is a phenomenally rich corporation. Honestly, does everyone on the board that has such strong convictions against fake purses also take an equivalent stance against illegal music downloading? Did you pay for every mp3 song on your iPod? So, in order for LV to strengthen their own cause against fakes, they try to appeal to pathos by citing terrorism as linked to fakes. They saw how passionately people responded against 9/11, so by using terrorism as their own scapegoat they hope to incite the same feelings in people and rally them up against fakes. Pretty convenient huh? The bottom line is NOBODY REALLY BENEFITS other than the luxury goods labels.
It doesn't make sense that LV justifies that they need to increase their prices because they are losing business to the fake market. That is simply not true. Do you think the woman who bought her fake $50 speedy would have gone out and bought the real one for over $500 more if the opportunity to get a fake was not there? Probably not, or she would have just gotten the real one in the first place. LV is putting together a lawsuit to sue eBay for an amount that equals their set retail values for every documented fake sold. Now that's just corporate greed. Of course, eBay itself is not blameless, they proliferated the fake market as well by turning a blind eye to transactions dealing with fake LV.
There are no credible sources that i've seen linking fake bags to terrorism. After all, every fake i've seen comes out of China. I especially don't see radical Islamic terrorists churning out fake copies of luxury goods, this is completely laughable. I liked the person's joke earlier up the thread about Osama's "brilliant idea". LV and the other brands must really think we are stupid to believe their rumor. Why would the terrorists be hypocrites and completely undermine their ideals that Western materialism is evil and ungodly? Even if they are copies, they are meant to be facsimiles of the real thing. When was the last time you saw an iOffer or fake ebay seller operating out of the Middle East?
The mafia/organized crime may be involved in counterfeit goods, but of these, handbags are far less lucrative than counterfeiting money itself, drugs (recreational and pharmaceutical), and alcohol. Think about the time it would take to put a purse together (which has lots of materials, assembly, sewing, etc.) than to make any of the above goods. They're out to make a QUICK buck. Think about the number of people with skills to make bags you need to round up to operate a fake bag ring. Probably not their business venture of choice.... The reason why counterfeiters set up shop in Mexico, China and other parts of Asia is that there is cheap labor where people are willing to do this work for the wage they receive. It would be just as good a job as anything else they can get in their situation, so nobody is being taken advantage of. The "sweatshops" where child labor is supposedly being exploited? The only ones exploiting them, I believe, are the luxury brands who spread rumors about the link to terrorism. Yeah, it totally sucks for the workers if these are the conditions in which fakes are being made, but nobody is being forced to work there. Any other line of work they could get would require the same hours and labor. Just feel blessed that you live in America.
As for diamonds retailers, they are again trying to appeal to the pathos to bring down the cartels to boost their own sales. Ironically, if they were more successful against the cartels the diamond trade would collapse. Diamonds, against other precious metals and stones, are the only ones to increase in value every year (others fluctuate up and down) despite the value being an illusion. Everyone wants a diamond, but only because there is a falsehood that they are scarce although the intrinsic value is low. After diamond mines by the Orange River in South Africa were discovered, diamonds stopped being rare. The cartels, DeBeers in particular, had to protect their profits so they established themselves as a monopoly and proliferated this idea that they are a rare commodity by only releasing a tiny percentage of available diamonds each year to keep the business lucrative (Supply goes down, demand goes up, value rises). It doesn't mean that blood diamonds are not blood diamonds. The mining business is fairly dangerous, lots of deaths occur from mining itself, but casualties are mostly from turf wars and the exclusive rights to mine there. Since diamonds are the only major export for that area of the world, there will be a lot of people fighting to gain a share. But the statistic that a certain number of people die per carat mined, blah blah blah, is exaggerated. Cartels are a NECESSARY EVIL to keep the diamond trade alive, control the values (without them your diamond would be worthless), so other retailers capitalize on these claims to keep their own sales going.
I should get off my soapbox now, this has been excessively long, but I hope for those that read it they will stop advocating the terrorist rumors by circulating it as the reason why fakes are bad unless they have seen solid, credible proof. I sure would like to see this too.
