News

The IPR Center Report

Partners in Action

Volume 2, No. 3 • September 2009

IACC Launches Worldwide Public Messaging Campaign

The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition (IACC) is the world’s largest nonprofit organization devoted solely to protecting intellectual property and deterring counterfeiting. Our membership covers a wide span of American industry, including automotive, apparel, luxury goods, pharmaceutical, software, entertainment and more.

In support of our members, the IACC has embarked on a worldwide messaging campaign designed to reduce consumer demand for cheap “knockoff” products. Promoting consumer awareness and reducing demand is one of the most important missions of the IACC and is key to winning the battle against the counterfeit trade. To consumers, the price of a counterfeit pocketbook might seem like a bargain, but the societal costs of these knockoffs are enormous and can be measured in terms of jobs, tax revenue, health and safety, and now more than ever, national security.

The IACC has taken a variety of approaches to get this message out by targeting specific areas for public service announcement activities and partnering with leading companies and government agencies. These programs have garnered international attention.

• In 2008, the IACC partnered with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to actively target consumers with digital ads strategically placed in Times Square on Kodak’s jumbotron screen, the CBS superscreen and on the Reuters and NASDAQ digital billboards. It is estimated that the message reached millions of consumers.
• In June 2009, the IACC supported the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Network’s World Anti-Counterfeiting Day, by launching events in New York City, Paris, Los Angeles and cities in Mexico. The campaign began in New York City, with streaming anti-counterfeiting messages displayed in Times Square on the Reuters and NASDAQ digital billboards. The ads reached millions of visitors, local residents and commuters, running in English, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Mandarin Chinese.
• In France, all major French airports featured anti-counterfeiting posters. Futhermore, these same posters have been displayed at 500 customs checkpoints throughout Europe.
• In Mexico, billboards featuring anti-counterfeiting messages went up at the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property and in front of the Mexican Trademark Office.
• Lastly, in Los Angeles, Sheriff Lee Baca hosted a press conference to highlight the specific piracy and counterfeiting issues there and his department’s response.

The IACC’s anti-counterfeiting messaging campaign alerts consumers the world-over to the huge negative effects that counterfeiting has on the economy. The IACC wants the consumer to know that counterfeiting is not a victimless crime and every dollar spent on knockoffs feeds an underground economy that does not pay taxes, and supports forced child labor, organized crime and the funding of terrorist activities.