ABSTRACT

The aim of this research is to investigate how consumption of high vs. low similarity counterfeit brands in the public affects consumer responses, in terms of attitude and purchase intentions, as against privately consuming the counterfeits. The study also aims to understand if consumers’ choice of a counterfeit depends on whether the leading brand uses a topdog brand biography as against using an underdog brand biography. Experimentation was chosen as the method of inquiry. The first experimental set-up was a 2 (similarity of counterfeit with original brand: low, high) x 2 (mode of consuming counterfeit: public, private) between-subjects design while in the second experiment, subjects were assigned to a condition of a 2 (brand biography: underdog, topdog) x 2 (mode of consuming counterfeit: public, private) between-subjects design. Results of two studies suggest that the evaluation of copycats increased with a higher degree of similarity, but only when the decision to consume the copycat was public. It was also found that counterfeit of brands using a topdog brand biography elicited more favorable responses when the counterfeit was consumed publicly. Results of the study will help practitioners to understand how to approach consumers’ consumption mode (public vs private) of copycat brands.

摘要

这项研究的目的是调查公众对高相似度和低相似度假冒品牌的消费，相对于私人消费假冒商品，在态度和购买意愿方面如何影响消费者的反应。该研究还旨在了解消费者对假冒产品的选择是否取决于领先品牌是否使用顶级品牌传记而不是劣等品牌传记。选择实验作为调查方法。第一个实验设置是2之间（假冒与原始品牌的相似度：低，高）x 2（使用伪造品的模式：公共，私人）受试者之间的设计，而在第二个实验中，受试者被分配为以下条件：主题之间的设计为a 2（品牌简介：劣势，顶级）x 2（使用伪造品的方式：公开，私有）。两项研究的结果表明，模仿者的评估具有更高的相似度，但是仅在公开使用模仿者的决定时才进行评估。还发现当公开销售假冒产品时，使用topdog品牌传记的假冒产品会引起更积极的反应。研究结果将帮助从业人员了解如何采用模仿品牌的消费者消费模式（公共与私人）。