Stop buying counterfeit products

Letters, Normal
Source:

The National, Monday 13th Febuary 2012

IT seems many products on sale nowadays in major towns and cities in PNG are counterfeit products.
They are counterfeit because they are exact copies of some products manufactured locally and they are sold at a lower price compared to real product.
A good example is Coca-Cola.
I believe the counterfeit Coke is manufactured in a foreign country and they are being sold by street vendors.
They are even sold at some trade stores and supermarkets owned by people from China.
I live in Goroka and there is a spike in the sale of counterfeit products.
There are two things we need to be aware of:
1.    Damage to PNG’s manufacturing sector
The sale of counterfeit products will cause a decline in sales of locally produced products as it will affect the local manufacturers. This will affect our workforce as they may be out of jobs;
2.    Health hazard
Why are counterfeit products sold cheaply? Because they are manufactured cheaply, meaning there are no safety and quality checks, especially food products.
Sometimes I wonder whether our Customs officers are working as these products seem to be flooding our market.
The onus is on us to do the right thing – stop buying counterfeit products.

Mikes
Goroka