Replicas, Not Counterfeits!

How to wash the negative moral implications of buying fakes away with words.

In a previous post, https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/genz-against-fakes-paolo-beconcini-gfafc/?trackingId=lvmb4LWUQ8WbHh2KConihA%3D%3D , I tried to understand why GenZ, the richest and most informed generation in human history, with solid ethical values ranging from sustainability and environmental protection to gender and racial equality, can brush all this aside to buy counterfeit stuff. I concluded that this could be partly because of GenZ self-centeredness and heightened individualism, partly due to lack of proper education about all the risks posed by counterfeiting to the individual, society and the economy.

Evidence is the words

If you were familiar with the jargon of GenZers searching online for intermediary platforms linking young buyers to traders/manufacturer of counterfeits in China, you would see that they do not search for the words "fake" or "counterfeits" but for "replica" or shortly, "reps". Counterfeiters and their middle men are called "agents". Below I am reporting a dialogue I found on Reddit where a user is asking the community where to buy counterfeits after the shutdown of Pandabuy (indicated in the dialogue simply as "pb"). Pandabuy was targeted by massive enforcement actions in China in the Spring of this year.

Q: Any Agent for Branded Right Now? I want to order a haul but I am not very up to date w the agents situation. Ik pb is still down but is there any other trusted agents doing branded?

R: No they won’t be for months … it’s honestly best time to just stack up and plan out your purchases when the time comes back to buying reps.

https://www.reddit.com/r/repbudgetsneakers/comments/1cq7efw/any_agents_for_branded_right_now/ .

Replica/reps sounds better than Fake

The most obvious reason for not using the words "counterfeit" or "fake" is to avoid risk of being caught or attracting attention about your dealing with illicit trade. However, the choice of the word "Replica" (why not another even neutral new slang?) betrays the need of the users to wash away the negative meaning of the words "Fake" and "Counterfeit". The literal meaning of "replica" (shortened as reps) is that of an imitation that acknowledges itself as such, while counterfeit is an imitation that is intended to deceive. Do we need any more explanation?

The word "replica" is in fact and more commonly used in relation to copies of antique works of art, where IP rights have been since long exhausted. For example, we speak of a replica of a Rembrandt painting, or of a Canova's sculpture. Using the word "replica/replicas/reps" to mean fake or counterfeit goods is not only a deception to hide the illegal transaction from the eyes of the enforcer, but a disguise to circumvent the moral barriers that a normal person erects when he is at risk or in the process of committing an illicit action.

Conclusion

In sum, GenZers know that counterfeits are bad business but they can overcome the legal and moral obstacles to trade with fakes by lowering their moral thresholds. Such moral trade off will remain possible until we build in them a stronger moral barrier that semantic make-up will not be able to climb. This can only be achieved through education. Only by educating them to all the risks posed by counterfeits and the direct societal implications of their own actions we can hope to help them make the right choice.