http://ipkitten.blogspot.com/2024/03/ukipos-second-report-on-social-medial.html
On 22 February 2024, the UK
Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) released its report on “The impact of complicit
social media influencers on male’s consumption of counterfeit goods in the UK”.
A pilot report, mostly focused on female consumers, was delivered back in 2021
and commented by Eleonora Rosati on The IPKat here.
The
findings
The UKIPO’s findings are based on a survey of
1,000 male participants based in the UK, aged 16 to 60 and who use social media
at least once per week, so the same quantitative base used for the 2021 female study.
The general percentage of UK males knowingly
buying counterfeit products is 35% (17% of UK females in the 2021 report). 24%
of UK males aged 16 to 60 purchase counterfeit goods under the endorsement of social
media influencers. This percentage is more than double that resulting from the
2021 study (10% of the female sample). The relevant type of counterfeit
products are sports and sportwear, clothing, accessories, jewellery and
watches.
Another interesting result is the resulting
lack of clarity and confusion on the definition of “counterfeit”, which
of course has an impact of the purchases (from the subjective viewpoint of the
buyer, especially young consumers). This uncertainty is linked to (some) behaviours
by (some) social media influencers in popular social media, where counterfeit
products are presented not as such but as “rep” (replica) or as “dupe”
(duplicate).
Lastly, the UKIPO identifies some policy
recommendations aimed at reducing the demand of counterfeit products. These are
directed at industry, regulators, educators, brand owners, platforms and online
marketplaces alike. It is recommended
that future research involves all such relevant key actors.
The
recent “sweep” by the EU Commission
Just few days before the release of the UKIPO’s
report, the European Commission also published the results of an investigation
of the Commission itself and consumer authorities on online influencers and the
lack of transparency of the promotional content of their messages – the screening (“sweep”) of social media posts from
influencers. As a result of the investigation among 576 influencers, 358
influencers were identified for further investigation by the competent national
authorities. One of the relevant findings is that more than three quarters of
the influencers carry out commercial activity (both endorsing third parties’
products and their own products), but only 36% are registered as a trader at
national level.
Comment
If we combine the results of the studies above,
a first conclusion is that the role of social media influencers has become more
and more important in the sale of counterfeit products and that most social
media influencers can now be fully considered professionals/sellers and
therefore liable for counterfeiting (as discussed by The IPKat here), especially in view of the attempt to change
the notion of counterfeit product so as to induce the consumer to purchase.
It is now widespread commercial communication
where “dupes” or “reps” are presented by juxtaposing them with the original
products, which are instead presented through their distinctive signs, thus inducing
consumers to buy counterfeits. The UKIPO study points out precisely how, on the
one hand, the activity of social media influencers has a major impact on the
purchase choices of counterfeit products, and, on the other, precisely how the
uncertainty created by the terms “dupe” and “rep” is used by (some) social
media influencers to overcome the residual reluctance of some consumers to buy
counterfeit products. Therefore, UKIPO’s outcome and recommendations take on an
obvious role, not only for UK, but a wider geographical spectrum too.
On a final note, it is worth recalling a Position Paper published by the Bureau Européen
des Unions de Consommateurs (BEUC) back
in July 2023 providing similar recommendations
for a reform to further regulate influencer marketing and for better
enforcement of existing EU legislation in this sector.
Photo by
Barbara Bonora
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