Fake Watches are for Fake People

The Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie engages the arts, to raise awareness of the social impacts of the counterfeit timepiece trade

Part of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie’s (FHH) raison d’être is a commitment to fighting counterfeiting and raising public awareness of its knock on effects. Counterfeit watch revenue is now estimated at over $400 billion, where counterfeiting siphons off 7% of world trade. The FHH believes that over 40 million fake watches are sold per year, when there were only 26 million genuine Swiss timepieces made in 2010 – a difference they believe raises over $1 billion for counterfeiters.
In January 2009, the Foundation joined forces with the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry to launch an international awareness campaign with visuals and a slogan declaring “Fake Watches are for Fake People.“ The FHH also has partnerships with international anti-counterfeiting organisations StopPiracy, Unifab and Indicam.

To reignite the counterfeiting discussion and educate consumers, the FHH launched a short-film competition for the general public and visual communication students at Lausanne University of Art and Design (ECAL), on the theme, Take a true look at fakes. Thirty “infomercials” and short films – cartoons, fictions and montages – were selected to be shown in Switzerland and internationally.
The latest campaign aims to inform the public about the peripheral effects of purchasing counterfeit goods. Highlighting the obvious impacts of lost revenue and intellectual property theft, but also exploring ethical and social issues such as child labour, money laundering, job losses and the link between counterfeiting revenues and organised crime.

By Sylvain Metlz
www.luxurysociety.com