Philips declares war on counterfeit products
Philips has declared war on counterfeit products, which it says pose a danger to the health and safety of consumers.
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At a press event at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra Thursday, Philips launched ‘Buy Original’ campaign, which aims at educating people on how to identify original Philips consumer appliances and lighting products.
The General Manger – Consumer Lifestyle for Philips West Africa, Mrs Chioma Iwuchukwu-Nweke, who delivered a presentation at the event, said the counterfeiting of Philips products was a threat to the company’s goal of improving three billion lives globally by 2025.
She said not only does counterfeiting pose a threat to the safety of Ghanaians, it also hinders Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as companies whose products are counterfeited are unable to make profit.
She made reference to a 2009 research carried out by the Ghana Employers Association with support from the European Union, which estimated that Ghana loses $200 million to counterfeiting every year.
Describing counterfeiting as a global problem, Mrs Iwuchukwu-Nweke said it costs the global economy an estimated $250 billion every year.
Mrs Iwuchukwu-Nweke noted that counterfeits Philips products are produced with inferior parts and cables that can cause fires in buildings, especially where lighting appliances are concerned.
She said counterfeit Philip ADVENT baby products also pose a grave danger to babies, because they do not meet the high standards and undergo the rigorous testing that characterise Philips ADVENT baby bottles.
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Stressing that the company has a moral and ethical obligation to curb counterfeiting in order to protect its consumers, Mrs Iwuchukwu-Nweke said Philips consumer products are now being embossed with ‘Original’ hologram stickers to help consumers identify them easily.
The Lighting Commercial leader for Philips West Africa, Mr Fred Darko, also called on the public to be vigilant when buying Philip products.
“We urge the public to become more vigilant and question products that seem unusually cheap, appear properly made, or have generic packaging, especially when shopping from traditional trade stores,” he said.
He also called on the public to “shop from approved Philips distributors and retailers and look for the ‘Original’ security holographic sticker on our products,”.
Mr Darko added that in addition to the holographic sticker, Philips lighting appliances, which he said were specially made for African conditions, also have a map of Africa embossed on their packaging as well as a 16-digit security code which buyers can text to 3110 (on all networks) to ascertain whether they are genuine or counterfeit.
He announced that the website ‘Philips.com/BuyOriginal.com’ has been set up to enable consumers send their queries and learn more about the ‘Buy original’ campaign.
Philips makes products such as dry irons, kettles, blenders, Philips AVENT baby bottles and lighting products such as TLD (tubes), starters, energy saving lamps, halogen lamps and fluorescent tubes.