10 business fakes in China

[Jermyzy]

I know Apple, Ikea, and World of Warcraft theme park were mentioned in other threads but here are a few more

10 business fakes made in China - Yahoo! Canada Finance


10 business fakes made in China

tweet35EmailPrint..Paul Toscano, On Thursday August 4, 2011, 1:07 pm EDT

China has become known as the epicenter for producing a wide variety of counterfeit and bootlegged consumer products, but a trend has emerged over the past few years of faking full retail operations.

A relatively new phenomenon, these rogue counterfeit businesses are a problem for companies that are trying to establish a brand image in China's emerging economy. While some of these operations sell actual products from the legitimate companies, many simply copy the retail format, right down to even the colors and slogans. Other forms of this type of counterfeiting have followed in the wake of major consumer trends, where illegally copying products, brands, or intellectual property of successful companies has turned into big business in China.

So, what are some examples of retail operations and major brands that have been copied in China?

Apple Stores

Recently, the discovery of illegitimate Apple stores in several Chinese cities sparked controversy both in China and the U.S. The fake Apple store, which was uncovered by the Bird Abroad blog , had similar signage, layout and even salespeople as real Apple stores. However, BirdAbroad picked out several key details not common among true Apple stores and correctly pointed out the stores as fake. The stores claimed to have real Apple products, but were not licensed or operated by the company.

Quickly following the public uproar—which included angry customers storming the stores in question demanding refunds—several of the stores were closed, not for their fraudulent use of the Apple brand, but for the lack of proper business licenses.

Disney Theme Park

Although fake stores are relatively widespread in China, more elaborate, but equally illegitimate theme parks have also been built. One of the most glaring examples is the Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park, which is run by the Shijingshan district government. The park includes structures that closely resemble Walt Disney 's iconic Magic Kingdom and Epcot center, while mascots strikingly similar to trademarked characters such as Shrek, Snow White, The Seven Dwarfs, Mickey Mouse, and Goofy can be seen around the park. Some of the characters were even spotted outside the Bird's Nest Pavilion during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Although the park caught the attention of Disney in 2007, it remains in operation today and even maintains an English version of its website.

IKEA

Found in the same city as the fake Apple stores, Kunming in southwest China, is a 100,000-plus-square-foot, four-story retail center that operates under the name "11 Furniture." However, it seems as though the only difference between 11 Furniture and the Sweden-based IKEA is the name.

According to reports by Reuters, the store copies Ikea's blue and yellow color scheme, mock-up rooms, miniature pencils, signage, and even rocking chair designs. Although the name of the store in English is not the same, in Chinese, 11 Furniture is "Shi Yi Jia Ju," which is quite similar to IKEA, which is "Yi Jia Jia Ju."

Starbucks




If it works in the West, it's a sign that China copy-cat stores may not be far behind. In 2006, Starbucks was successful in an intellectual property case against a Chinese company that operated under the name Xingbake, which is Chinese for Starbucks.

There have been numerous reports of fake Starbucks in China, including One Dollar Coffee, Seayahi Cofee, Lucky Coffee, Bucksstar Coffee and more. Bucksstar Coffee in particular was part of a mall that featured several fake storefronts, including a store called "Pizza Huh" and "McDnoalds," with similar color schemes and signage as the western originals, according to the U.K.'s Mirror .

World of Warcraft Theme Park

If the Disney theme park wasn't enough, an equally brazen Chinese entrepreneur decided to build a theme park based upon the popular World of Warcraft and Starcraft brands, owned by Blizzard Entertainment.

The theme park is called World Joyland and is located in the Changzhou, west of Shanghai. The theme park was an attempt to merge the park and video game experience, and claims to have cost $30 million to build. However, the "Terrain of Magic" and "Universe of Starship" offerings are eerily similar to Blizzard's brands, points out the blog Shanghaiist.

KFC



Although the real Kentucky Fried Chicken can be blamed in its own right for fakery in China—as evidenced by it's use of an Obama imposter in several Chinese TV ads —the company is also a victim of storefront forgeries. The fake KFC stores not only use the fast-food chain's branding, but also replace Colonel Sanders with their own rendition .

The fake KFCs may not remain around for long, however, since KFC recently became the largest restaurant company in mainland China, after becoming one of the fastest-growing brands in the country, according to a Harvard Business School study.

Harry Potter

Although China has notoriously been a haven for businesses copying American brands and merchandise, the same has happened for Harry Potter books in China's domestic market, reports The New York Times . The Chinese market has been plagued by Harry Potter fakes that come in many forms.

One type of forgery utilized the same title as an upcoming Potter book and peddlers began selling it several days prior to the official book's release date. Other forgeries have used the text from J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit," swapping out the original character names with those from the Harry Potter universe and re-titling it "Harry Potter and the Leopard Walk-Up-To Dragon." Unlicensed translations and reproductions, of both Harry Potter and other popular books, are also rampant in China.

Nike




Another popular brand in China is Nike , and along with that popularity comes knock-off stores, such as this one, pictured left. Nike has been manufacturing in the region for decades and China also remains a major source of counterfeit Nike products.

McDonald's



McDonald's is another global brand with a strong and growing presence in China, but not even McDonald's can escape imitation stores. Although the image to the left shows a real McDonalds restaurant, there have been several imitations that mimic a variety of McDonald's looks and logos. Most copy the look and feel of the restaurant, but others have copied the menus and even some of its slogans. Several imitations that can be found are "Mini Dog" and "Mcdnoalds," which both use the distinctive golden arches.

Disney Store

Although the store has been confirmed by Disney to be legitimate, Reuters reports that even this non-fake business has components that are fake. The store, which is also located in Kunming, sells a variety of Disney products, but also has poorly made Angry Birds toys, Reuters reports.

[npizz]

I heard a lot about these lately, especially the fake Apple Store hitting the news, but I had no idea there were so many fake stores that china had replicated. That's just ridiculous.
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[drunkrussian]

damn i wish the chinese government were somehow pressured into banning fake shit. I know it's ridiculously unlikely but it sure would be nice for the real brands to take market share and for the money to go back to the u.s. It would give their economy a nice boost, and in turn, we would benefit as well. But this type of stuff keeps it all in China, which for me, is not a good thing.

[shenmecar]

hahaha china

[Cman333]

Can't be all that surprised. China = Land of knockoffs.

Come on....they made fake milk for fucks sakes....FAKE MILK FOR INFANTS!!!

Fake name brand clothing, copycat car brands (BMV), fake iphones, etc etc

Copycat stores isn't all that surprising.

Everyone is just trying to cash in on the fastest developing country while there's money to be made.

[murd0c]

Soon we are going to find out China is a fake country thats actually controlled by N Korea.

[J____]

Originally Posted by murd0c

Soon we are going to find out China is a fake country thats actually controlled by N Korea.

This actually gave me a good laugh

[k3mps]

chinese sports wear company. it's name is a spin off of Jordan (Qiaodan)

it's got the logo similar to and1

[Culture_Vulture]

Oh Chinurrrr, you so crazy.

[Mr.HappySilp]

lol can there but like fake of a fake in china?

Like a fake store of the fake apple store in china @@ That would be funny

[KuSouL]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

lol can there but like fake of a fake in china?

Like a fake store of the fake apple store in china @@ That would be funny

huh? say what?

i went to zhao qing in guang zhou to visit some distant distant family with my grandpa a few years back cause he wanted to see where my roots were

and the so-called 5 star hotel we stayed at (imo crappier than a rundown middle-of-nowhere-mote) had a KFC Nike and McDonalds right across the street ... turns out they were all fake

didn't end up going to any of them even when i got hungry late night just cause i looked really different from what the locals are use to seeing and i was kinda scared

[Presto]

Harry Potter and the Leopard Walk-Up-To Dragon

L-O-effin'-L

[GLOW]

that fake nike store's logo should be:

just "diu" it

[Liquid_o2]

Very interesting.

Took this photo when I was in Chongqing last year... most likely a knockoff of Lacoste I would assume. Unless there is something I don't know about.

[Bonjour43MA]

Fucking Chinese people. So embarrassing for the rest of us that would never do shit like this.

[124Y]

[spideyv2]

[Zoidberg]

iron-maiden-albums-various-picture2293-facepalm.jpg

[tiger_handheld]

i also like Puna .. puNa ... instead of Puma

[ptrinh]

AHAHA

[MoBettah]

Originally Posted by Bonjour43MA

Fucking Chinese people. So embarrassing for the rest of us that would never do shit like this.

Go back to the railroads you self hating fool.

[geeknerd]

although its 'fake' i bet the products arent that bad? most of those brand name stuff is from china anyways

[asian_XL]

FACTS:
- 1.4 billion people in China, 9/10 are living in poverty
- average salary is $400cdn a month
- making $1 profit from each Chinese will make you a billionaire
- 1% market share is 1.4million, 1.4million rmb can let you buy two apartments and a couple of wives.
- a product that costs 10 cents to make can be sold at 10 bucks in Canada
- a counterfeit product can be sold 5x more expensive than unknown brand, but it only costs 1 cent to slap on a well known logo (clothes, purse etc).

while you are laughing your ass off seeing those fake brand names on the internet, there are already a dozen people become multi-millionaries. 1 or 2 will move to Canada, jack up the RE price and buy all the lambo for their kids. Who's the loser at the end?

[Fcukedd]

Originally Posted by tiger_handheld

i also like Puna .. puNa ... instead of Puma

Saw a guy wearing a Pmau vest lol with a similar logo as Puma

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by Mr.HappySilp

lol can there but like fake of a fake in china?

Like a fake store of the fake apple store in china @@ That would be funny

I saw a store selling nothing but fake OLEVIA brand products before. Olevia itself is just a cheap china electronics company, so it's funny to me to see them getting ripped off