Thesis
Due to the improvement in technology, world knock-offs and counterfeits are now, very easy to find and they have become common in our markets and society worldwide.
1. Counterfeiting of goods begun with the counterfeiting of money which evolved to the counterfeiting of goods. Over 95% of counterfeit goods are produced in China. There is a lot of information on social consequences of counterfeiting in China where they are manufactured by children who are below the age of 16. Most of these children are orphans who work and live under very horrible situations (Phillips, 73).
There has also been evidence of production of counterfeit goods in America.
It's a reality that when we look around in our houses, offices, everywhere around us we can count the number of items that are 'made in China'. From basics to large equipment and even the computers we use every day there is at least something we use that's made in China.
Not only is it bad that we use this items, but we are ignorant of the fact that they are manufactured in industries that exploit children. These are homeless children who are mostly orphans and have no voices to demand for their protection and rights. This makes the production costs to be really low thus the products also end up being really cheap as compared to the originals and this is what attracts most buyers, the low prices.
Poverty is to blame for the influx of the counterfeits. Raids in the suburbs of Brooklyn in New York have also unearthed cartels run by illegal immigrants trying to make a living in America. It only shows that counterfeiting can be done anywhere and for as long we keep up the demand for these products, their production will prevail.
2. The counterfeit goods have a lot of negative effects.
It is estimated that the trade in counterfeit goods make up 6-7% of the total trade all over the world. The trade is estimated to cost over $600 billion dollars worth of counterfeit goods that each year are produced into the market. This horrible trade, in 2010, caused a global sales loss of estimated $512 billion by organizations.
Out of that $512 billion that is the global loss, the American companies lost an estimated $25 billion which is a huge amount of money. The loss of $25 billion cost an estimated massive loss of over 750,000 jobs in America alone. The problem is global and affects almost all aspects of people's lives.
Governments the world over are trying to fight this menace because of the economic impacts it has on the world economies. Counterfeiting costs the genuine businesses over $600 billion. This leads to major job cuts since most companies find they cannot compete fairly.
3. Counterfeiting is used by criminal organization for them to get funds to fund their illegal activities (Madsen, 1).
Criminal organizations and terrorists use counterfeits as their main source of finance.
Organizations such as the Mexican drug cartel, the Yakuza, the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other criminal groups depend on counterfeit goods sales for their funding. Counterfeiting also works in the funding of human trafficking, drug smuggling, sex trade, weapons trade, murder, black market, kidnapping, and in other criminal activities. This is mainly why the trade has been so hard to beat since it has criminal hardliners protecting it and even worse is the fact that every day we go out and keep it alive by buying these products.
4. In places where counterfeits are made, children below the age of 16 are used to make this counterfeits (Goldstone, 56; Jiang, Yarong et.al, 87).
We are the custodians of the children of the world but we seem to be closing our eyes on the issues that affect them. Their human rights are violated on daily basis especially the orphans and those from poor backgrounds. Instead of educating them, we continue to give them another day to go work in the exploitative counterfeit industry by buying the counterfeit products. Starvation, abuse and even death of child labourers is reported from these industry by the media but we seem to forget all about them immediately.
Conclusion
Counterfeit products are a huge problem to the society; this problem affects all aspects of the society, political, economic and social. It is a problem that affects all with very fatal consequences. There are reports of counterfeit drugs in the market, counterfeit food, counterfeit clothes and almost every product. Also there are aspects of criminals financing and the use of children in the production of the products. It is therefore important that every individual ensures that they always ensure that they only purchase and consume genuine products.
