the explosion of electronic trade as a result Pandemic increased the number of Those under the age of 25 who buy fake products from the internet, deliberately or due to ignorance, as revealed by the latest IP Barometer among young people, published this Thursday by the European Union Intellectual Property Office.EUIPO).
In addition, although this group is increasingly accessing online content through legitimate sources, a significant percentage of 33% continue to download TV series, movies or music from illegal sites.
This is Euroagency’s third time lives in Alicante He conducts this study, in which he surveys more than 22,000 young people aged 15-24 in all countries of the European Union.
The main result is that more than half of young Europeans -52%- admit to buying at least one fake product went online last year, and most worryingly, 37% admit they did it on purpose. it’s a figure much larger than previous edition It was determined that only 14% of the survey conducted in 2019 admitted to knowingly purchasing counterfeit products online. It’s an increase that the study itself has in part relates to the progress e-commerce has experienced with the pandemic.
The study also highlights important differences between countries in this area. Therefore, the proportion of young people who intentionally buy counterfeit products online ranges from 62% in Greece to 24% in the Czech Republic. Spain above average, ranked fourth, 45% consulted acquires such articles knowing that they are illegal.
Counterfeit products most often deliberately purchased by young people, ropa and accessories (17%), followed by shoe (14%), electronic devices (13%) and hygiene products, cosmetics, personal care and perfumery (%12).
However, there are also many young people. they are trapped and they buy these products without realizing it. Therefore, given the difficulties in distinguishing genuine products from fakes, up to 37% of those consulted claim to have been exposed to this type of deception. It should be noted that the percentages of those who deliberately resorted to counterfeiting and those who had purchased deception at some point cannot be added, as the same person may have been in both cases.
digital piracy
in relation to digital content, Access to legal sources is gaining ground among the younger generation. 60% said they had not used it in the past yearcontent played or downloaded illegal sourcesThey also did not have access to live streams (streaming) through these sources, compared to 51% in 2019 and 40% in 2016, confirming the trend.
Therefore, deliberate piracy remains constant, because 21% of consumers young people (one in five) admit they have deliberately accessed pirated content a figure that has risen in the last 12 months 25% in the case of Spain. A significant proportion of teens have been misled into accessing pirated content. 12% access pirated content accidentally and 7% are unaware of it. The main types of pirated content were: movies (61%) and series television (52%), followed by music (36%), particularly through private websites, apps and social media channels. One in four young people (25%) in Spain knowingly access pirated content.
“At a time when electronic commerce and digital consumption have increased significantly, the increase in deliberate and involuntary purchases of counterfeit products worrying trendassured the director general of EUIPO, Christian Archambeauadvocating running awareness campaigns to reduce these numbers.
price and availability
Although price and availability remain the same main reasons encourages the purchase of counterfeit products and deliberate access to pirated content, family, friends or acquaintances gaining ground significantly.
Other factors include not caring if the product is counterfeit (or whether the source of the content is illegal), not seeing any difference between genuine and counterfeit products, and the ease of finding or ordering counterfeit products online. One in ten respondents mentioned recommendations for: influential or famous people.
when it comes to factors deterrentsyoung people on both products and digital content, cyber fraud risks and cyber threats are important deterrents. Also, today, young people surveyed refer more generally to a better understanding of negative impact on the environmental or social plane.