How Counterfeit Products Impact Modern Society?
The dramatic growth of consumerism has resulted in excessive proliferation of fake goods. It seems that every person has bought one unauthorized item at least once in their life. While some refuse to sacrifice quality for a price after this experience, many other people remain under the sway of the counterfeit market, irresponsibly contributing to its rapid expansion.
In fact, no one knows the real scope of the counterfeit industry, as only a small part of illicit trade operations has been detected by law enforcement agencies. According to the Global Brand Counterfeiting Report 2018, the amount of counterfeiting worldwide jumped to 1.2 trillion USD in 2017. A report warns that this number is estimated to grow to 1.82 trillion USD by 2020.
“In 2017, the losses resulted from online counterfeiting comprised 323 billion USD.”
Although counterfeiters derive great financial benefits from persisting with the surplus of unregulated products, authentic brands face serious financial challenges. For example, only luxury brands sustained losses of 30.3 billion USD in a previous year. In 2017, the losses resulted from online counterfeiting comprised 323 billion USD. Its adverse impact on offline marketing is also undeniable. Global and local economies have been deprived of profit. Genuine economic activity loses out because black market promotes affordable goods from all possible sectors. Despite prevailing low quality of illegal merchandise, it hooks consumers in every country.
As it has become easy to introduce pirated goods to various markets, the social well-being of local communities has been compromised as well. Not only should modern governments allocate resources to fight counterfeiting, but they are also supposed to use less public money for roads, schools, and hospitals because they have to support thousands of people who lose their legitimate jobs as a result of fraudulent manufacturing and trading. Moreover, investment and innovation move elsewhere as counterfeiters make determined attempts to improve their machinations. With the advent of technology, the instruments of counterfeiting have been significantly innovated. Today, the complexity of illegal distribution schemes is aimed at boosting demand so that the revenue continues to rise rapidly.
“ […] counterfeit medicine industry is highly lucrative for counterfeiters, but often fatal for patients.”
Unfortunately, people don’t perceive a widespread interest in illegal trading to be a greater crime, as counterfeiting is a good way to get money. But, it’s important to bear in mind that any form of unauthorized trading is a violation of law. Both distributors and buyers involved in counterfeiting are responsible for the economic recession, unemployment, labor exploitation, copyright infringement, and, most important, serious health risks. With a great deterioration of health in the population, more people are forced to buy medicines that are often highly expensive. Being unable to afford treatment, patients often opt for unauthorized drugs, which can often have either no or adverse effects. It is estimated that the counterfeit medicine industry is highly lucrative for counterfeiters, but often fatal for patients. Clearly, counterfeiting isn’t just a problem in one sector, or for one brand or one person.
It is a global issue that requires drastic actions, and law enforcement agencies understand that the fight against illicit trade shouldn’t be neglected. Their objective is to spread awareness among consumers because they are the driving force of high demand. Moreover, it’s high time they started incorporating new blockchain technologies, which have already proved to be effective in other industries. As a decentralized platform, blockchain can save every transaction, enabling users to track their purchase. Luckily, the first platforms to manage supply chain have been already introduced. One of the most reliable is NovaTrack, which transforms the relations in the market. The platform guarantees transparent transactions of goods that are authentic and easily traceable. It allows customers to track ordered products and to benefit from smart contracts, which prevent counterfeiters from entering the market. NovaTrack is a promising example of how trust between users and manufactures can be restored and how society can start to value the work of others.
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