Boasting and Gloating: How Social Media Networks Motivate Consumers to Show Off their Counterfeit Branded Fashion Goods?

The prominence of social media networks inspires consumers to "fake" their material belongings and lifestyles by consuming counterfeit branded fashion goods. The gravity to ‘keep up with the Joneses' through fashion and trends contributed to the plethora of counterfeit fashion brands in the physical and virtual marketplace, leading to social and economic quandaries in the branded fashion goods industry. Consumer demand has been an absolute reason for the skyrocketing counterfeit markets. Thus, these dark markets pose the most critical challenge for luxury brand manufacturers in discouraging consumers from participating in counterfeiting activities. Based on a hermeneutic phenomenology study, this research endeavoured to explore an exhaustive and contextualised account of consumer consumption experiences on the purchase of counterfeit branded fashion goods through in-depth interviews. The researchers employed the phenomenology approach to probe into the living experience of consumers involved in counterfeit branded fashion goods consumption. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, and four themes materialised from this study; inadequacy, showing off, branded value buy and dedicated. It substantiated, consumers obsessed with displaying their material possessions promoted a "logofication" culture and lifestyle. Consequently, consumers utilise social media networks to show off their fake material objects, allowing them to emulate their material possession without being caught by others. Social media networks facilitate consumers to feel more secure, thus authorising them to build their desired self-image without spending much on showcasing the original brands. Ultimately, it fosters a conspicuous lifestyle. This analysis adds facts to counterfeit branded fashion goods, and consumer behaviour as the emerging themes represent the actual experiences captured from the consumers who are continuously involved in counterfeit consumption practice without feeling anxious and exposed to psychosocial risks. Further, this research contributes to scholastic and organisational proficiency in the Malaysian context by comprehending the exact grounds of counterfeit consumption.