One

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the youngest sister's family came to pay New Year greetings and brought two gifts, one was "six walnuts" and the other was milk. This is a very common New Year gift in rural areas. As soon as they put down the gifts, I figured out what they were doing. What they brought was not "six walnuts" but "six walnuts". The packaging was the same as the six walnuts, and even the spokesperson's hair style on the box was the same. The same thing, except the signature changed to Jiang Moumou. My sister and brother-in-law suddenly realized it after I pointed it out.

This reminds me of what happened during the Chinese New Year two years ago. Years ago, my mother wholesaled a lot of Mengniu milk from the town for entertaining guests at the table and celebrating the New Year after the new year. It was still the second day of the Lunar New Year, and I carried two loads of milk to my uncle's house to pay New Year greetings. Halfway there, I felt something was wrong. I lifted the milk in front of my eyes and took a closer look, only to realize that what my mother bought was not Mengniu, but Mengwu. A typical impostor who steals the news. After I found out it was a fake, of course I was embarrassed to mention it again, so I let my younger siblings carry it. Fortunately, they didn't notice it yet. Later, I went to a wholesale store in town to check out all kinds of beautifully packaged New Year goods that were indeed mixed with fakes. A relative who runs a wholesale store said that there have actually been fewer fakes in the past two years, and there were basically no genuine ones around 2010.

So, why are fake and shoddy products flooding the rural market?

II

I thought about it and there are many reasons. The most intuitive thing is that the packaging of these fakes is very similar to the real ones. Only the product names are slightly modified, often with one character difference but the font shape remains unchanged. If you don't identify them carefully, it is difficult to distinguish the authenticity from the fake. For example, Yili is changed to "Yinli", "Yihe", Master Kong is changed to "Kangshuaifu", "Kangshibo", Qingfeng becomes "Qingxiang", "Jifeng", Wangzai becomes "Wangzi". , Oreo became "Guangdong Leo", "Oreo", Deluxe changed to "Trent", and so on. In addition, rural people's identification ability and brand awareness are not high. They have only seen many products on TV but have never carefully identified them. I think it was definitely advertised. Rural people are not very price conscious or quality conscious and they like cheap things. I later asked in the store that for the same package, Mengwu milk was about fifteen yuan cheaper than the genuine Mengniu milk. My mother was very happy that the same milk she bought was cheaper than others, as if she thought she was taking advantage. Another important reason is that the supervision system of relevant departments in rural areas is not perfect and supervision is not strong, resulting in low illegal costs for rural businesses. Farmers' awareness of health and rights protection is not strong. Even if they know that the products they buy are fake and shoddy, as long as they don't kill people, they will turn a blind eye and pass by, saving a lot of trouble. Of course, some people will list possible reasons such as collusion between government and businessmen, evil intentions of manufacturers, immoral businessmen, and ignorance of farmers.

Things always have multiple causes and effects. Despite all the explanations, each of which made sense, I was still not satisfied. I always feel that there is a more profound explanation. While observing and thinking about New Year greetings, I suddenly discovered a problem that I don’t need to deliberately discover. Nowadays, people in my hometown buy New Year’s goods in the market during New Year’s greetings and New Year’s greetings, instead of making their own New Year’s goods.

In the past, when it was young, every household would not only kill pigs and grind tofu, but also make homemade New Year products. Homemade New Year's goods are usually made of rice flour and flour into different shapes and patterns, and then fried or steamed. During the Chinese New Year, these New Year's goods will be placed on the dining table. When traveling to pay New Year greetings after the new year, the baskets are also filled with these New Year’s goods. I remember that we in southern Hunan usually make peach rings (rice flour kneaded into six small rings and six large rings and then fried), crispy dumplings (the same as dumplings, filled with peanuts, sesame and sugar, fried), blanched, Lanhua root, cow's ear, etc. After opening the door on the first day of the new year, we have to drink sweet wine, and all these things are on the table. Entertaining guests and paying New Year greetings are also these things. I remember going to my relatives’ houses to pay New Year greetings. In addition to the above-mentioned homemade New Year goods, a bag of sugar was also placed in the bamboo basket, wrapped in newspapers, and covered with red paper (?brown sugar?). After giving out these gifts during New Year greetings, the host will return the gifts when you return home. They usually give back some of their own homemade New Year gifts in return, or they also give back the gifts you gave them. But the host usually keeps the brown sugar.

If the host returns the brown sugar as a gift. Then you have to understand that you don’t have to go to their house to pay New Year greetings next year, which means you are no longer a relative.

三

It’s easier to pay New Year greetings now. Just bring two New Year’s goods that you bought now, and you don’t have to return gifts. It’s convenient and trouble-free to go home empty-handed. But when did farmers stop making large-scale New Year’s goods during the Chinese New Year and instead buy them directly? That is, since when did Yili, Mengniu, Six Walnuts, Oreos, etc. become consumer goods for farmers.

With this question in mind, I did a small investigation. Through multiple interviews, it was confirmed that those products that were originally consumed by urban citizens were put on a large scale by farmers around 2007 and 2008. dining table. It was also from this time on that farmers no longer made large-scale homemade New Year products. The reason was that there were fewer people to eat and people were lazy. Occasionally, people still make it, but it is also used for snacks, rather than for entertaining guests and New Year greetings. In other words, starting around 2008, urban consumer goods have completely replaced rural self-made consumer goods, becoming the main consumer goods on farmers’ tables and becoming farmers’ gifts during the New Year. This "replacement" is achieved suddenly, rather than a slow and long development process. In other words, it was not replaced since the reform and opening up. From that time until about 2008, the rich and poor people in rural areas ate home-made food, and few purchased it on a large scale in the market. It can be said that around 2008, rural areas suddenly began to consume urban consumer goods and abandoned homemade rural consumer goods. In other words, the consumer demand for urban consumption by farmers is a demand created suddenly. It is not a rational need based on sufficient cognition.

Then, suddenly, farmers start to consume the original urban consumer goods, and a huge market will be formed in the countryside, which needs to be filled by merchants. If you were the boss of Yili Mengniu, what would you think about when you faced this huge rural market? You might think about how to occupy this market, how to go to rural areas to advertise your products, or think about I can't sleep at night with this huge profit, and so on. But if I were the boss of Yili Mengniu, and faced with the sudden appearance of the rural market, I would just want to cry.

Because this is a huge market that suddenly appeared. Twenty years ago, ten years ago, or even a few years ago, rural people did not eat milk, and rural children did not eat milk. , as the boss of Yili Mengniu, I would never have expected that such a market would emerge. Well, ten years ago I would not have had the foresight to prepare the pastures needed to supply the rural market. All of my ranches supply the existing markets in the city. When the rural market suddenly appeared, I could only watch the market helplessly, helpless, what else could I do without crying.

But the market in rural areas is too big and the profits are too huge. There will always be people who are not afraid of death in the face of huge profits. Then many small manufacturers began to manufacture fake and shoddy products in rural areas. Although regular and well-known manufacturers are coveting this market, they have no choice but to give up because of insufficient supply of raw materials. But there are still some regular manufacturers who can't stand their loneliness and take risks. That's how Sanlu emerged. Therefore, the basic line of the rampant counterfeit goods in rural areas is: at some point, rural areas suddenly create consumer demand for urban consumer goods. Regular manufacturers cannot supply raw materials, and fake and shoddy products will definitely take risks to make up for this. market space. In addition, farmers have not kept up with all kinds of awareness, and there will definitely be a market for fake and shoddy products.

We can generalize and rationalize this truth, that is, as long as a consumer demand is suddenly created (rather than developed slowly through rational cognition), its regular manufacturers can satisfy There will definitely be a shortage of raw materials for this demand. If the demand is large enough and the profits are lucrative enough, then there will be fake and shoddy products to fill the market, and fakes will definitely exist. Only after a period of time, when the raw materials of regular manufacturers can meet the new market demand, will the counterfeit and shoddy products withdraw from the market.

Four

According to this principle, we can understand some consumption phenomena in Western countries and countries.

Our general impression is that there are many counterfeit and shoddy products, and Western countries also criticize us a lot on this issue, saying that intellectual property protection is not strict. There seems to be no fake or shoddy products in Western countries. My explanation is that Western countries have passed the stage of being flooded with fake and shoddy products. Western countries are developed countries. Their market development has gone through hundreds of years and is quite mature. The needs of their people in all aspects have become increasingly stable, and it is difficult to "suddenly" create new demands. This means that their needs have been met by regular manufacturers, and fake and shoddy products have long been driven out of the market.

It is a late-developing country, and its people’s consumption needs follow the West, or they are constantly copying the consumption needs of Western countries, such as luxury goods, visual programs, etc. Then some new consumer demand will inevitably be created suddenly at some point. As long as the market suddenly appears, regular manufacturers will be restricted in raw materials, leaving enough room for counterfeit and shoddy products. Many of the luxury goods and fashion consumption in the current market are suddenly manufactured, so there will definitely be fakes. It is still developing, new needs will continue to be created, and fake things will definitely continue to emerge. Only when, like the West, development reaches a certain level, the consumer demand for newly manufactured products gradually decreases, different classes are content with their own consumption, and the supply of goods from regular manufacturers is sufficient, there will be no market for fakes.

Return to the fake and shoddy products in the countryside. Compared with previous years, there are obviously fewer fake products in rural areas and more and more genuine products. The reason why there is less is related to the improvement of farmers' awareness, to the supervision of going to the countryside, and to the fact that these demands have gradually become stable and the raw materials of regular manufacturers have gradually been supplied. But again, as long as some new demands are created in the process of rural development, counterfeit and shoddy products will continue to flood the countryside. It can also be said that counterfeit and shoddy products are an inevitable product of a development stage.