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According to a study released by the University of North Carolina, people who wear designer knockoff sunglasses are more likely to be lying liars who lie, possibly because they don’t feel guilty about cheating:
Everyone in the study was given a pair of real $300 designer shades. Half of them were told they were authentic, while the other half was told they were knockoffs. Both groups were then asked to complete a problem-solving task where they would be paid for each correct answer. They marked their own tests and were asked to report their scores. The subjects who thought they were wearing real sunglasses cheated 30 percent of the time, while those who believed they were sporting faux lenses bumped up their score 71 percent of the time. All the participants thought that their tests were anonymous and that their reported scores couldn’t be cross-checked, but researchers had coded the exams so they knew exactly who was, and who wasn’t, a fashionable fibber.
Is it just me, or does it feel like this study was subsidized by a designer? I’m always so skeptical of anything that tells you buying knockoffs makes you a bad person – it feels like a scam by high-end fashion brands to make you feel guilty for not buying their stuff. But maybe I’m just a fundamentally evil person since I have bought knockoffs in the past, and therefore my opinion is invalid. Could go either way.
31 days ago
Nice and really a good post.
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39 days ago
I don’t buy knockoffs because a lot of the same people who make them are involved in drug-dealing and money laundering, and I’d really rather not support them. Then again, I also pay for all my music and movies and have never cheated on a test, so maybe I’m just a goody-goody.
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45 days ago
“I don’t buy knockoffs because a lot of the same people who make them are involved in drug-dealing and money laundering, and I’d really rather not support them. Then again, I also pay for all my music and movies and have never cheated on a test, so maybe I’m just a goody-goody. But I think buying knockoffs – as opposed to something without a brand name – is essentially lying in itself. The reason people buy, say, Ralph Lauren polos or Louis Vuitton bags may be because they’re well made, but knockoffs are bought mainly for the label: you want people to think you have the money to buy the real thing. So this study doesn’t really surprise me.”
@ Eileen, you have no idea who makes the “real” sunglasses! Some of these, especially ones by non-traditional eyewear manufacturers, are probably from the same shop.
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45 days ago
Maybe not, but I’d sooner trust someone who puts his or her own name on a product than someone who uses another person’s name.
46 days ago
Another thing that’s weird about this study is that they didn’t test people who purposely buy knock-offs (control group would be people who pay full-price for authentic), they tested normal people and told some of them they had knock-offs and some of them they had originals.
So, basically, the results of the study showed that if you are given something inauthentic, you’re more likely to lie, but if you’re given something original, you’re more likely to tell the truth.
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45 days ago
Or maybe this study shows that if you tell someone you’ve just given them fake designer sunglasses, they’re less likely to take your survey seriously.
46 days ago
@Lilit I agree with you on the “cheaper but perfectly good version of thing that is unnecessarily expensive” thing – when I say “knockoff,” I mean “handbag with a Coach logo on it that I actually bought from a street vendor.”
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46 days ago
This is silly… when I buy a knock-off, I tell people! “I got these shoes for $15 at Target… but you thought they were Steve Maddens, right?” I think that saving money is a bigger trend than the fashion itself.
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46 days ago
I’m with you. I love getting a good bargain! I think there’s a huge difference between “fakes we are trying to pass off as the real thing” and “cheaper but perfectly good version of thing that is uneccessarily expensive,” and I love the latter. Then again, maybe I am lying.
46 days ago
I don’t buy knockoffs because a lot of the same people who make them are involved in drug-dealing and money laundering, and I’d really rather not support them. Then again, I also pay for all my music and movies and have never cheated on a test, so maybe I’m just a goody-goody. But I think buying knockoffs – as opposed to something without a brand name – is essentially lying in itself. The reason people buy, say, Ralph Lauren polos or Louis Vuitton bags may be because they’re well made, but knockoffs are bought mainly for the label: you want people to think you have the money to buy the real thing. So this study doesn’t really surprise me.
Reply