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With trade amounting to more than US$400bn, counterfeiting is already affecting many successful brands. Often, consumers are deceived into buying fake products due to the visual similarity between fake and original brand logos. This paper aims to explore the varying forms of fraudulent imitation of original brand logotypes (operationalized at the level of logotype transposition), which can aid in the detection of a counterfeit brand.

Across two studies, this research tested how well consumers can differentiate counterfeit from original logos of well-known brands both explicitly and implicitly. Seven popular brand logos were altered to create different levels of visual dissimilarity and participants were required to discriminate the logos as fake or genuine.

Results demonstrate that although consumers can explicitly discriminate fake logos with a high degree of accuracy, the same is not true under conditions in which logos are presented very briefly (tapping participants’ implicit or automatic logo recognition capabilities), except when the first and last letters of the logotype are substituted.

A large body of research on counterfeit trade focuses on the individual or cross-cultural differences behind the prevalence of counterfeit trade. There is limited research exploring the ability of a consumer to correctly identify a fake logo, based on its varying similarity with the original logotype; this paper addresses this gap. Given that many of the purchase decisions are often made automatically, identifying key implicit differentiators that can help a consumer recognize a fake logo should be informative to both practitioners and academics.

Counterfeiting is a menace in the emerging markets and many successful brands are falling prey to it. Counterfeit brands not only deceive consumers but also fuel a demand for lower priced replicas, both of which can devalue the bona-fide brand. But can consumers accurately identify a counterfeit logo? This paper aims to explore this question and examines the accuracy and speed with which a consumer can identify a counterfeit (vs original) logo.

Seven popular brand logos were altered by transposing and substituting the first and last letters of the logotypes. Consumers then classified the logos as counterfeit (vs original) across two experiments.

Participants were faster and more accurate in identifying a counterfeit logo when the first letter (vs last letter) of a logotype was manipulated, thus revealing last letter manipulations of a brand’s logotype to be more deceptive.

This paper comments only on the manipulation of logotypes but not of logo symbols. Similarly, findings may not be generalizable across languages which are read from right to left.

Counterfeit trade is already a multibillion dollar industry. Understanding the key perceptual differentiators between a counterfeit (vs original) logo can be insightful for both consumers and firms alike.

Research available on objective measures of similarities (vs dissimilarities) between counterfeit (vs original) brand logos is limited. This paper contributes by examining the ability of consumers to discriminate between counterfeit (vs original) logos at different levels of visual similarity.

With the introduction of the mandatory European Union (EU) organic logo for all organic food products in 2010, the European Commission aimed at fostering the internal organic food market. This needs consumers’ knowledge of the logo. According to earlier research consumers’ knowledge of the EU organic logo is low. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to elicit consumers’ attitudes towards organic certification and labelling and to develop recommendations on how to improve consumers’ knowledge of the EU organic logo.

By means of an online survey with 3,000 participants in six European countries, knowledge of the logo and attitudes towards organic farming and European labelling, as well as organic food purchase behaviour and socio-demographic indicators were elicited. Factor and cluster analysis based on several statements on the test persons’ attitudes towards organic farming and corresponding EU legislation were conducted in order to segment consumers.

The results indicate that knowledge of the logo is low. Only about 15 per cent of all respondents knew its meaning. Four clusters of consumers could be identified: “Committed organics”, “Pragmatic organics”, “Organic sceptics” and Organic disinterested’. With reference to the EU organic legislation’s aim of promoting the organic market, particularly “Organic sceptics” should be addressed by emphasising the trustworthiness of the organic certification and labelling system.

Segmenting consumers according to their attitude towards organic farming, its labelling and certification allows for targeted and efficient communication and organic market development.

The purpose of this paper is to present the contemporary thinking on deliberate lookalikes and to provide a better understanding of its key forms (counterfeits, copycats and no-name imitations) and markets (deceptive and non-deceptive).

This editorial contains a review of current and past literature on deliberate lookalikes along with summaries of all the articles accepted for publication in the special issue on deliberate lookalikes. The guest editors used academic databases such as Web of Science to find the most representative scholarly work on deliberate lookalikes literature.

This editorial identifies pertinent research gaps in the literature on deliberate lookalikes. The five selected articles address some of these research gaps and provide useful insights on the purchase and usage of deliberate lookalikes along with directions for future research and ways to apply different research methods that could have important implications for scholars and managers.

The editorial and special issue extends the knowledge about the deliberate lookalikes and their effects on firms, brands and consumers. This work opens new avenues for the research about different forms and markets in the context of lookalikes.

Brand mere recognition is the fundamental step in brand awareness and the first hurdle that any brand needs to achieve before brand equity can come into the picture. Thus, consumers’ ability to recognize a brand through its symbol or logo is very crucial and despite its significance, it is considered the lowest order in brand equity assessment but it reveals the initial clue on how well the brand is performing in the market. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to test how well consumers are able to identify the right Halal Malaysia brand (HMB) using Halal semiotic cues.

This study is an exploratory, based on a mixed method approach using qualitative and quasi-experimental design using the implicit association test (IAT) as the instrument. A total of 23 Malay Muslim consumers were involved in the first stage of the study carried out using a semi-structured interview. The second stage of this study was carried out using quasi-experimental design where IAT was used as an instrument. A total of 66 respondents participated in both states of the experiment and the response time was recorded and analysed using D-measure and descriptive.

Findings from qualitative investigation indicate that most of the respondents failed in the mere recognition test. The findings are further supported using IAT where a hesitation in response when facing the current HMB logo has provided a clear indication of lack of mere recognition for this brand. Unfortunately, the proliferation of other Halal logos that have flooded the market, comprising both recognized and unrecognized logos by Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM), which often adopted a similar logo design strategy, only add to the confusion. Clearly, the findings on HMB logo mere recognition also revealed that there are some problems during the transition from the old JAKIM Halal logo to the current logo, where the information related to the new logo has failed to reached targeted audiences.

Despite there are a lot of studies focussing on the positive impact of Halal Malaysia logo on Muslim consumers purchase decision, however there are few publications that suggest otherwise. Thus, this study will investigate the extend of this problem.

This paper aims to model consumers’ decision to use halal logo on packaged food products. The model primarily tests the importance of country of origin (COO) of a halal logo as an indicator for assessing credibility of a halal logo, and its relevance in consumers’ decision to use the logo in packaged food purchase.

A data set from a survey of 559 respondents from two countries was used to test eight hypotheses that were developed based on a modified theory of planned behaviour framework, using partial least squares procedures.

Halal certification logo was found to have COO effect on consumers’ evaluation during purchase decision of food items. Consumer uses information on the COO of a halal logo to assess the logo’s credibility in delivering the halal food standard. The construct, along with the constructs of religiosity and its interaction terms, subjective norms and attitude, explains consumers’ intention to consider the halal logo during packaged food purchase.

Generalization of the findings is limited to the packaged food industry and to the consumer groups surveyed in the two countries.

There is a need for marketers to recognize Muslim consumers’ sensitivity towards the origin of a halal logo in choosing the right logo for their products. Logo certifiers may want to consider adopting marketing strategies to market their certification as a credible marker of a halal food standard.

The effect of COO of halal logo and its influence on consumers’ decision to use the logo in purchase decision are new to the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to gain in-depth understandings of the stages involved in the case of a romance scam victim who was unknowingly used as a drug mule. The work compares this case with established research in this field. It also seeks to learn more about the strategies used by these cybercriminals.

The research presents a case study of a victim of a romance scam who was arrested for drug trafficking. The research involves a grounded theory analysis of interviews with the victim, legal team and family members and analysis of her instant messenger chat logs and email communications.

The analysis identified a variation on previous stage models of romance scams and re-names this as the “romance scammers” strategy model. It also replicates previous work on scammers’ techniques and highlights some new strategies, including positively and negatively framing messages, unconditional positive regard, activating norms of romantic relationships, cognitive immersion, manipulating role, sleep deprivation and signing is believing.

These findings could be used to help guide future similar court cases. Moreover, they can be drawn upon to advance future research on romance scams, as well as scams in general.

This is the first in-depth case study of a romance scam victim involved in drug trafficking and is the first research on romance scams to examine in depth a case, taking into account textual exchanges. While not undermining previous research, this paper provides valuable insights that are lacking in previous qualitative work on cyber scam victims.

Buy Muslim’s First campaign started with the primary aim of urging the Muslim community to be more vigilant about halal or Shariah-compliant products, leading to a number of halal-related issues, triggered by the exploitation or misuse of the halal logo in Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the purchase intention for Muslim-made products by applying the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Halal consciousness was integrated as a moderating influence on the purchase intention of Muslim-made products.

Data collection was performed through a self-administered questionnaire which was distributed through convenience sampling method. Therefore, a useful sample comprising 152 Malay Muslim participants aged over 18 was collected. For hypothesis testing, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was implemented.

It was found that the participants’ attitudes towards the purchase of Muslim-made products and their perceived behavioural control significantly influenced their purchase intention, but the subjective norm did not impact this intention. Furthermore, halal consciousness moderated the relationships among all the independent and dependent variables. Halal consciousness moderated the relationship between participants’ attitudes towards Muslim-made products and their perceived behavioural control towards the purchase intention; however, this moderation did not occur through the subjective norm and the purchase intention.

As the findings of this study were limited to the Muslim population in Malaysia, it might be difficult to generalize for other nations that have no similarities with the Malaysian Muslim culture.

The findings of this study may support Muslims to implement more effective marketing strategies that attract the target customers to purchase Muslim-made products. Effective promotion may attract potential customers as well.

The halal consciousness among Muslim consumers is important for the moderation and prediction of consumers’ intention to purchase Muslim-made products.

The incredulity among Muslim consumers due to fake and doubtful halal logos has led to some querying the halal compliance and halal integrity among food small and medium enterprises (SMEs). By using the traceability systems consumers may track and trace the movement of food products available in the market. The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that influence food SMEs’ intention to adopt a halal traceability system.

A structured questionnaire survey was developed and administered to a systematic random sampling of 260 food SMEs. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, Chi-square analysis, Pearson correlation analysis and logistic regression analysis.

The results revealed a strong correlation between the environmental aspect (EA) and perceived usefulness (PU) of a halal traceability system. Sales turnover, PU, perceived ease of use, technological aspect, organizational aspect and EA are the factors that influenced food SMEs’ intention to adopt a halal traceability system.

The context of this study is confined to the SMEs in the food industry in Peninsular Malaysia, thereby limiting the generalizability of the findings to other industries.

This study shows a halal traceability system facilitates food SMEs in enhancing their business and provides tremendous potential to further improve the halal industry in Malaysia.

The traceability system that is perceived to be easy and useful are the most influential factors toward the adoption of technology among food SMEs. Thus, this study confirms the growing importance of the halal traceability system in the food industry.

This study aims to compare the purchase intention of counterfeit outdoor products between Taiwan and Hong Kong consumers.

A total of 584 respondents from Hong Kong (n = 247, 42%) and Taiwan (n = 337, 58%) were recruited for the study. Data analysis was performed by using structural equation modelling techniques.

The results showed that consumers' perceived risk had a negative influence on attitude and intention to purchase counterfeit outdoor products. Moreover, attitude towards buying counterfeit outdoor products, perceived behavioural control and subjective norm had positive impacts on purchase intention. Brand consciousness, however, had a negative influence on purchase intention. The multi-group analysis identified significant differences between Hong Kong and Taiwanese respondents.

This study provides a better understanding of how these factors affect purchase intention of counterfeit outdoor products across different cultures.