Some counterfeit luxury products look just as good as the real thing. Aside from the legality of purchasing fakes, what could be so wrong with getting something at a discount, especially when, for so many, real luxury is beyond reach? What, one may ask, is the harm of giving some business to street peddlers of fakes, who most often are low-wage immigrants who cannot get work in the formal economy? After all, luxury companies like Chanel and Gucci have more than enough money. More people think this way than not though few will publicly admit to having these thoughts.
Well, putting aside the legal and moral problems associated with the counterfeit market, there's another reason why buying fakes might be detrimental, according to behavioral scientist Dan Ariely. In his book "The (Honest)Truth about Dishonesty," Ariely contends that buying knockoffs doesn't just hurt the profit margins of the fashion industry but it could very well compromise the integrity of the buyer of fakes in other parts of his or her life.
Ariely, a professor at Duke University and a popular speaker, conducted a research project on how wearing real vs fake products influences honesty in general. In the study he and fellow behavioral scientists gave real and knockoff Chloe sunglasses to female MBA students at the University to see whether there would be a correlation in their decision to tell a lie or not. They set up a series of mathematical puzzles to solve in 5 minutes. When they were finished they were simply asked to state how many they answered correctly, which was the trap the scientists created for cheating.
What did they find? 30 percent of those wearing real Chloe sunglasses said they answered more questions than they had compared to 74 percent if the fake category. There were also similar results in regards to how participants assessed others and their integrity. In other words, the real Chloe wearing participants were less likely to have the view that people are cheat and liars than the counterfeit wearing group.
If the excerpt in Scientific Ameircan is any indication, Ariely's book with the subtitle "How to Lie to Everyone--Especially Ourselves," will be quite a provocative read and glimpse into our perceptions of honesty as it relates to ourselves and others.
Read an excerpt here.