Three Bars of SoapTwo Video Games
If you haven’t figured it out by now, we’re counting down to the ‘12 Days of Counterfeits’ which are sure to plague us well beyond this holiday season. Today’s featured counterfeit is sure to leave your holidays in a stink.
Turns out, counterfeit soap is making quite a dent in some markets. A recent
interview with the General Manager, Dan Nwaiwu, of Eva Soap in Lagos, Nigeria makes it clear that imposter soaps and smellies present a far bigger problem than anyone can imagine:
“We have been having serious issues with the fakers. The danger in this is that most times some of these products sold are substandard and even harmful; since they contain some ingredients that should not be used in the first place. Unfortunately, many consumers would not know these details.”
While the health and safety risks posed to consumers are certainly the most obvious effects of counterfeiting, the underlying negative effects to the viability of industries are also nothing to scoff at.
Companies are also worried that the inability to tackle counterfeiting of their products will prove detrimental to their local economy in the long run. Nigerian paper This Day
reported that the Eva Soap GM:
“appealed to the Federal Government to prevail on the relevant regulatory bodies to assist the nations manufacturers in fighting the war against counterfeiting, noting that high-selling goods are being cloned by counterfeiters on a daily basis; a development, he stated, had succeeded in crippling not a few manufacturing businesses in the country.”
It’s important to note that while Nigeria is a long way from home, economies of all levels of development are trying to grapple with protecting consumers, workers, and industries alike from the widespread theft of patents, trademarks, and copyrights.
Governments have a responsibility to sniff out counterfeiting and piracy, but in the same vein, consumers can contribute their own due diligence by scrutinizing purchases and buying only genuine products that will be sure to leave us all smelling good.
