Social media experts are advising high-end brands to “bow down” and embrace the #dupe subculture, which feeds off recommendations of duplicates or cheaper alternatives to luxury products.
Scams, fakes and copycat brands are nothing new, with the first wave of beauty YouTubers highlighting cheaper products back in 2010. But earlier, the purchase of imitation goods was mainly done with the aim of passing off the goods as genuine.
The difference is that buying a #dupe is no longer the same as duping or being duped. With the rapid rise of shareable short video platforms, counterfeiting has become cool, and Gen Z is openly finding and exposing its dupes.
“The rise of cheat culture is indicative of a generational shift in product and media consumption,” said Jennifer Baker, growth marketing leader at Grin, a creator management platform.
“Previous generations may have secretly bought fakes, but Gen Z has not only normalized buying fake or generic products, but has turned the #dupe movement into one of the most trending terms on social media.”
The shift is so profound that studies show that even when Gen Z or Millennials can afford to buy a genuine designer item, many still choose a dupe: Nearly one-third of US adults said they’ve intentionally bought a dupe premium or luxury product, at least , 11% of UK consumers buy one fraudulent product at least once every few months.
Half say they buy a dupe to save money, while 17% say that even if they could afford the genuine article, a dupe is a great alternative.
Insiders say cheating culture is likely to become a permanent part of young shoppers’ habits, with “cheating discourse” permeating all online media, from YouTube and Instagram to digital magazine lists and blogs.
Things that appeal to young women – the most active internet users – are most frequently tagged, including clothing brands Lululemon leggings, Skims shapewear, Bottega Veneta, Ugg, Charlotte Tilbury Foundation, Adidas Sambas, Dior, Olaplex and Dyson.
The trend is so popular that to date, TikTok videos with the hashtag #dupe have received almost 6 billion views. Playful variations of the phrase like #doop or #doupe account for hundreds of millions more: type “I found the perfect dupe” into TikTok and watch hundreds of thousands of videos pop up.
What constitutes a scam ranges from genuine fakes to tips on how to find cheaper versions of high-quality products. In some cases, the deception is openly produced by retailers who want to undercut their competitors – the discount supermarket chains Aldi and Lidl are well known for their imitations of private label products.
Stevie Johnson, head of influencer marketing agency Disrupt, warned of a problem where big brands start to rip off smaller, independent ones. “But as long as the legal consequences are followed, I don’t see too many downsides to cheating,” he said.
Fakes are sometimes created by third-party manufacturers and sold on online platforms such as Amazon. These products can be openly marketed as dupes, but in other cases, influencers find them and highlight them on their platforms as the “perfect dupe”.
Influencers also fall into different camps, from those who work for brands and creators in a paid position – who should use the #ad hashtag prominently – and those for whom recommending cheats is an unpaid part of their online identity.
For Gen Z, experts say, it’s less about curating authentic designer goods and more about consuming authentic social content to achieve the same look for less.
But since fake products are often created by unknown brands, the recommendations of the creators are more important than ever to determine the difference between an affordable substitute and a cheap thing.
That’s why, said TikTok’s head of consumer communications, a good cheat recommendation can make a TikToker an overnight sensation.
“When a creator or influencer finds a cheaper product that everyone else wants to buy, they can become stratospheric overnight,” they said.
But wherever the deception comes from, experts say companies should see it as an opportunity to strengthen their brand and refresh their cultural relevance.
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“Brands don’t have to worry about their reputation being damaged because everything is open,” said Sophie Hardy, chief client officer at influencer marketing firm Goat Agency.
“Instead of fighting the tricked, high-end brands should use the trick to easily engage with popular culture. They need to engage with it directly – and authentically – to attract new people and demonstrate confidence in the power of their brand,” she added.
Johnson agreed, advising bigger brands to get more playful. “Brands need to start playing with it a little bit more,” he said. “If they do that, they can attract new customers who may not have initially approached them without the attention that the deception brought.”
Elin Briggs, a brand analyst at Morning Consult, a US technology research group, conducted a study that found cheating even benefited the “cheated”. About two-thirds of U.S. adults said they associate positive words like “trendy,” “trendy” and “upscale” with brands that are often deceptive.
“This means that the widespread presence of fraud is effectively a consumer seal of approval that companies should feel empowered to give — especially given that the vast majority of U.S. adults view fraud as a minor, if any, problem,” Briggs said. . .
Last year, athletic apparel company Lululemon did just that. The $50 billion luxury company has made a marketing coup by offering fans in Los Angeles who bought a Lululemon knockoff of its popular $98 Align tights the chance to exchange them in-store for the real thing.
His “duped replacement” came after TikTok user Ariana Vitale’s post about Lululemon dupes garnered more than 955,000 views, giving the #lululemondupes hashtag more than 150 million hits.
“It was a really fun way to enter the cultural conversation,” said Nikki Neuburger, Lululemon’s chief brand officer. “Part of why we’ve been so confident about this is because we really know our products are the best; and when you try them, we felt that people would have a palpable “Aha” moment.
The gamble paid off: According to Lululemon, 50% of the more than 1,000 people who came to the exchange were new customers, and half were under 30. The response far exceeded Neuburger’s expectations: her team is now considering expanding the exchange idea to more events. in other markets.
Olaplex is another luxury brand that has completely targeted the cheating discourse, garnering millions of views and online conversations in just a few weeks.
Olaplex launched its newest hair care product last September and, at the same time, sponsored TikTok influencers to hail an Olaplex dupe called Oladupé.
However, when the influencer link was clicked, people went to the official Olaplex page and said there was no dupe because nothing could be as good as the real deal.