A Cheap Knockoff of a Friday Fun Link

Jesse Walker | June 1, 2007

A gallery of Chinese fake brands.

Comments

|6.1.07 @ 4:44PM|#

When we were there last summer, we also came across:

Pier Cardoon (men's shirts)
Johnson Walter scotch (made from grapes)

Both labels were quite convincing until you got close to them.

VM|6.1.07 @ 4:48PM|#

mercy!

That must be the reason behind your new-found affection for Disco Tuesday... hmmmmmm.

*strikes jaunty pose

Cesar|6.1.07 @ 4:51PM|#

Don't forget the PopStation and the Neo DoubleGames.

|6.1.07 @ 5:01PM|#

If you're too stupid to notice you're buying an CNOVERSE shoe, you deserve to be departed of your money and have the shitty things fall apart in a game of pick-up b-ball.
On the bright side, it's good to see that Chinese entrepreneurs have discovered elixir.

|6.1.07 @ 5:04PM|#

OK I've got this in my head now and it's driving me nuts. I think the line is delivered by Ron Glass, almost certainly as Barney Miller's Detective Harris. But the character in question is trying to con someone out of top quality merchandise by convincing them it's all cheap knock offs. He says Gucci is famous for not dotting the i, the i on that bag is dotted.

"What you have there is a gooky bag".

Any help? Is it Barney Miller? What eppisode? or is this just another one of those voices in my head

Ramsey|6.1.07 @ 5:08PM|#

The cheap CNOVERSE shoes were probably made in the factory next door to the Converse manufacturer. There is a difference between a name and quality.

db|6.1.07 @ 5:35PM|#

I think the point is to play off of non-native English speakers who won't necessarily know the correct spelling of the name, not to export these to the West.

lunchstealer|6.1.07 @ 5:36PM|#

OK the chucks knock-off hier seems to be late-90s political commentary.

Christopher Monnier|6.1.07 @ 5:51PM|#

> I think the point is to play off of non-native English speakers who won't necessarily know the correct spelling of the name, not to export these to the West.

Yeah, imagine if there was some famous Chinese brand in America whose logo featured Chinese characters. Would you really be able to tell the difference if they swapped the order of some of the characters? I wouldn't.

Rhywun|6.1.07 @ 5:53PM|#

Some of these remind me of pr0n spam. Just switch the letters around and no one's the wiser.

|6.1.07 @ 6:24PM|#

Pantboy? What's the point of that?

|6.1.07 @ 6:28PM|#

Do the Chinese have some sort of serious inferiority complex or something?

Why not come up with your own brands, instead of ripping off ones that already exist?

Christ, it's like half of my clients suddenly got turned loose in a factory.

|6.1.07 @ 7:11PM|#

Why come up with your own brand when you can knock someone else's off? I think this is more of a result of opportunists and a lack of effective IP enforcement than an "inferiority complex.."

|6.1.07 @ 7:13PM|#

An idea just occurred to me.. I'm going to create a blog with a libertarian bent, and I'm going to call it "Raisin Magazine.."

|6.1.07 @ 8:01PM|#

I'm sure Eric Dondero Rittberg and all other "You're either for us or agin us" Republicans think our beloved magazine should be called "treason."

|6.1.07 @ 8:13PM|#

I once bought a pair of ball star classics and a holex, luckly for me I paid in Uero.

|6.1.07 @ 9:10PM|#

The letter switching thing could be real amusing if they did it with FCUK.

|6.1.07 @ 9:13PM|#

I liked this one about CCTV's description of some of China's favorite leading ladies. Ladies, if you think its tough living up to society's expectations in the West, you should see what they think over there.

http://www.hemmy.net/2007/05/04/10-hot-female-stars-in-china-unique-description/

|6.1.07 @ 9:25PM|#

PMUA? Isn't that just because some new sweat shop worker from the countryside (who's never seen shoes before) accidentally got the letters mixed up on the first pair?

Coke|6.2.07 @ 3:33AM|#

Yeah, imagine if there was some famous Chinese brand in America whose logo featured Chinese characters. Would you really be able to tell the difference if they swapped the order of some of the characters? I wouldn't.

Bite the Wax Tadpole

Allison Harnack|6.2.07 @ 11:37AM|#

I'm a bit perplexed. What exactly are "unreasonably low prices?" :)

LarryA|6.2.07 @ 1:03PM|#

If you're too stupid to notice you're buying an CNOVERSE shoe, you deserve to be departed of your money and have the shitty things fall apart in a game of pick-up b-ball.

As an editor, I'll note that a lot of otherwise intelligent writers routinely make similar mistakes. I'll even admit I've been caught doing it.

Jennifer|6.2.07 @ 1:49PM|#

What exactly are "unreasonably low prices?"

You must be new here! Otherwise, you'd know the answer is "what the government gives you when it eminent-domains your home."

dr_dog|6.2.07 @ 2:09PM|#

Best I've (personally) witnessed: a pair of headphones by SQNY. We bought them and kept them in the box, so I'm not sure how they sound.

|6.2.07 @ 2:13PM|#

Am I the only one who noticed that the "Ballstar Classics" also say "Monica Fun" on the logo?

shecky|6.2.07 @ 4:46PM|#

I know a genuine Panaphonics, Magnetbox and Sorny TV when I see it.

The Wine Commonsewer|6.2.07 @ 6:05PM|#

Fake Mickie Dees Burgers? Isn't that sort of an oxymoron? Well, okay, I know they aren't really made of kangaroo but man, a Big Mac isn't Ed Zachary what I'd call a REAL burger.

The Wine Commonsewer|6.2.07 @ 6:06PM|#

Jesse, that's a really GREAT header. I think it wins the thread.

Two Thumbs Way Up High Regards, TWC

The Wine Commonsewer|6.2.07 @ 6:07PM|#

Although, Jennifer's runs an extremely close second.

|6.2.07 @ 9:24PM|#

Am I the only one who noticed that the "Ballstar Classics" also say "Monica Fun" on the logo?

Heh heh... no.

|6.2.07 @ 9:28PM|#

Fake Mickie Dees Burgers? Isn't that sort of an oxymoron?

More like a redundancy, TWC.

Untermensch|6.2.07 @ 11:28PM|#

I know they aren't really made of kangaroo but man…

Nah, that'd be Jack in the Box. They needed the extra boing to live up to their name… (Seriously, they were the ones who did use kangaroo meat)

M|6.2.07 @ 11:47PM|#

What exactly are "unreasonably low prices?"

Putatively, thiese.

The Wine Commonsewer|6.3.07 @ 12:30AM|#

Prolly no kangaroo meat, it's way too expensive and tastes too much like venison.

I'm just mad that you can't get secret sauce anymore and they got rid of the double cheeseburger. :-) Course when Paige worked there I'm not sure getting secret sauce on your burger was a good idea.

My old buddy Billy and his friends would go out every weekend, get hammered, smoke oilers, get the munchies, go to Jack in the Box, chow down, come home, and blow groceries all over the front yard. They never learned. Don't go to Jack in the Box when Paige is making secret sauce.

The Wine Commonsewer|6.3.07 @ 12:38AM|#

Speaking of Jack In The Box, a perfect opportunity for gratuitous self-promotion.

The Wine Commonsewer|6.3.07 @ 12:38AM|#

M, good one.

The Wine Commonsewer|6.3.07 @ 12:39AM|#

Baked, thanks for the precision. :-) I really ought to put all this stuff into one reply/comment.

Old Geezer|6.3.07 @ 9:14AM|#

This isn't a Wizard. It's a Willard!

Nobody Important|6.3.07 @ 10:03AM|#

It looks like the Evil Spellbinder has been at work.

Where's Letterman when corporate trademarks need him?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKgBxZmDakE

Russ 2000|6.4.07 @ 9:55AM|#

It's only fake "Chinese" brands because that's where most of the manufacturing is. Years ago you could find all the fake brands on Maxwell Street. I always liked the "Buuck" hub caps on my Dad's '51 Roadmaster; by the early 80's they were actually worth more money than legit Buick hubcaps.

Russ 2000|6.4.07 @ 9:56AM|#

Actually, the hubcaps were "Buuuk". Sorry for misspelling the fake brand name!

|6.4.07 @ 10:46AM|#

Pantboy? What's the point of that?

If you have to ask . . .

Actually, I would think there would be a handy little market for these knock-offs (or "konck-fofs", if you will) in the US. The last word in self-conscious anti-bourgouis hipster irony.

And there's no way Converse wins an infringement suit against Cnoverse shoes. Different name, no infringements.