Andrea Morales/The New York TimesPages from a pamphlet seized by the police that a streetside counterfeiter in Chinatown had used to show potential customers what was available after just a phone call. The third winner of our Summer Reading Contest wrote about counterfeit merchandise. Go to related article ?She’s been a runner-up the past two weeks, and now she’s our Week 3 contest winner. We’ll tell you more about her, and share her winning entry, in a minute.
But first, we want to acknowledge the 71 students who wrote in to participate in the third week of the contest. They were interested in a wide range of New York Times articles, on topics like tiny toads,?swimming with sharks, sidewalk advertising, playgrounds, the Internet and memory.
We received not one but two articulate entries from a writer named Calvin, both on the national debt, and a discussion about the Women’s World Cup from the obviously passionate Arsenije. The entries from these two writers nicely demonstrate the breadth of interest, and strong writing skills, exhibited by our student contest participants.
Our runners-up this week are all from the Baccalaureate School for Global Education in Astoria, Queens, whose rising eighth graders are participating as a summer assignment. They are:
Nicholas, who self-identifies as a “beta male.”Munawar R., who shared his admiration for meteorologists.Raiaan, who is concerned about the famine in Somalia.And now, for this week’s winner.
Aglaia, 15, of Forest Hills, N.Y., who last week philosophized about noise and the previous week about Cy Twombly, evidently has wide-ranging interests. In her winning entry this week, she delved into the issues raised in an article about counterfeit merchandise:
A true New Yorker knows where to find the best restaurants, museums, shopping centers, and now, places to buy counterfeit purses. Selling counterfeits of designer purses is nothing new. It has become “an industry” spreading from downtown to Time Square. This article caught my attention because I’m familiar with the world of counterfeit purses. While I’ve never bought (nor sold) any bootlegged products, I know plenty of people who have been coaxed by low prices and adept salesmen and have bought counterfeit purses.
This article is extremely relatable. The description is true to reality and also a bit humorous, though it doesn’t take away from the gravity of the issue itself. A year ago, I went to Chinatown with my mom. We witnessed, firsthand, venders scurrying around slyly trying to sell their goods. I begged unsuccessfully for a counterfeit purse since my friends had designer handbags (real or fake; I didn’t care.)
Still, let’s face it; we’re not fooling anyone with our bootlegged products. Consumers know that their purchases are not genuine. Many just cannot afford a real one. Our psyche tricks us into thinking that we’ll fit in if we keep up with the latest trends. Thus, we need a look-a-like designer bag to stay in the loop.
The problem with counterfeiters is that they take business away from actual brands. However, our main concern shouldn’t be the “cat-and-mouse game” the author describes. I actually sympathize with the venders. They’re only the middlemen, doing the painfully arduous task of dodging the police and settling deals. Additionally, many venders are immigrants, legal and illegal, who speak little or broken English. For them, they just trying to make ends meet.
The origins of the problem stem from foreign manufacturers who knowingly undermining brand-name companies. Nevertheless, consumers share an equal amount of blame. I’ve learned in history class that our economy is controlled by the dynamics of supply and demand. In this case, demand creates its own supply. If people want fake purses, manufacturers will continue to produce and wholesalers will continue to import, enlarging the problem.
I propose three alternatives to harness demand for illegal counterfeits: 1) Crackdown on wholesalers who import illegal products. 2) Impose penalties on guilty consumers. 3) Educate our generation and teach them, like my mom has taught me, that we, as individuals, are worth much more than anything we own.
If that isn’t food for thought, we don’t know what is.
Entries have already begun pouring in for the fourth week of the contest. You have until Friday morning to enter. Ready, set, go!
No comments:
Post a Comment