Il consumo di prodotti di lusso contraffatti e originali a confronto

The practice of product counterfeiting is one of the most relevant problem of the luxury goods market. Fake products allow anybody to have and to show the luxury brand without spending a great amount of money. In this sense counterfeit could be considered an hidden competitor for original and luxury brand. Past research has examined the demand side of product counterfeiting, the purchasing habits of the affluent or the stages luxury brands go through before being fully accepted by consumers. Marketing literature lacks in investigating how genuine brand consumers’ use counterfeit goods and behave when they wear fake luxury products. The aim of the present study is to investigate this topic from an emotional and social point of view. Authors assumes that emotions could have an important mediator role in defining consumers behaviours toward counterfeits or genuine products and suppose that social pressure could become a relevant moderator of this effect. Results, collected by a between subjects experimental design, confirm the research hypothesis, shedding light on the emotional and social aspects of wear a counterfeit versus a genuine good.