Style Check | Gucci’s PR faux pas in Hong Kong over luxury paper tomb offerings
Italian fashion house trips over its own high-end hems claiming trademark infringement by small stores in the city that sell paper versions of its goods to be burnt at funerals
Luxury brands are all in a constant struggle against trademark infringement and unscrupulous massive industries of fake goods. Often, it’s brands launching legal offensives against shadowy companies producing fake, cheap versions of their goods and logos, which can be hard as these companies can often disappear and re-emerge under another name. When it happens in a country such as China, where intellectual property laws are vague and fledgling, it can be especially tough.
Gucci, which has so far enjoyed a blistering period of PR glory since fashion’s golden boy Alessandro Michele took over, has this week fallen into a PR quagmire. News leaked that it sent warning letters about trademark infringement to so-called mom and pop-type stores in Hong Kong selling paper tomb offerings for the dead. The point of contention? The rise in fake paper Gucci accessories sold to be burnt for the dead. Yeah, try not to laugh.
Since Gucci warned the shops not to sell these items violating their brand’s trademark, the store owners subsequently contacted Hong Kong’s local press. As a result of their report, the news has made it around the world via English media – and the Italian fashion house has been made to look quite petty. The symbolism of a global multibillion dollar luxury company “warning” perhaps some of the poorest retailers in the city over items that could not ever be taken for the real thing just seems a little bullying.
In an ironic little side note, one store owner apparently told Apple Daily that she has never bought a luxury bag and didn’t even know that Gucci was a famous brand. Ouch, but doesn’t that just put things into context?