Fake and counterfeit goods promote unethical behaviour

When you wear a fake Ray-Ban sunglasses or a replica Gucci handbag, you want to show yourself wealthier than you actually are. Beside this richer lifestyle, a study of the University of North Carolina has shown that these kinds of counterfeit products can lead people to unethical behaviour. They cheat when they fill in a test and behave dishonestly, but they have no idea of this impact coming from these counterfeit products. For the experiments, some people were told that they were going to wear a fake pair of designer sunglasses but in fact the sunglasses were real. The experiments showed for example that such a person cheated on a test to gain more money. Furthermore the actions of others are interpreted by people wearing fake goods as dishonestly or unethically all the time. Francesca Gino, who did the experiments, said that buyers of counterfeit products for themselves actually pay a price for the morality of the rest of their life.

(http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/04/09/fake-and-counterfeit-goods-promote-unethical-behaviour/)

Ivo De Clercq