Rawalpindi : The duplicate products, look-alikes, and spell-alikes stay with genuine products on the same shelf in Rawalpindi shops. The phenomenon is widespread and dangerous to health. “In the main markets, the absence of original branded products is seventy-five percent. The retail audit could reveal that for every 100 strips of genuine items, there might be fifty-four look-alikes. Many health items have about twenty-five clones,” says Abida Hussain.
“There are three kinds of fakes. The look-alikes sport a color scheme resembling a popular brand, but the brand name is dissimilar. The second category is the spell-alikes where biscuits have a Mince for a Prince and the packaging looks similar. The third variety is duplicates bearing the name and address of the genuine company, but the product inside is fake,” adds Abida. “Local investors manufacture most look-alikes. Many of them have their own manufacturing units and operate on a smaller scale exactly like the established manufacturer. They even have appointed distributors to make the product available in the market,” says Irfan Jafary.
“The look-alike manufacturers’ strategy is to take undue credit on the advertising campaign of the larger player and establish their own brand. The manufacturers have no qualms about displaying their manufacturing units’ names and addresses on the product wrapper. They price their products lower than what established companies offer with margins offered to wholesalers and retailers,” says Nemat Ali. “Spell-alikes generally have the genuine products’ rate printed on them, but the retailer brings down the price after a bit of bargaining. Most spell-alikes have an extremely vague manufacturer’s address on the packaging that is impossible to trace,” says Fawad Hasan.
“Duplicates have the established manufacturer’s address, as the packaging is bought from the raddiwalla and filled with a fake product. Distributors appointed by genuine companies stick to the closest areas, while distributors who stock counterfeit products service tiny shops on cycles or bikes,” says Batool. –Agencies
