The effects of modern-day paid digital advertising on the escalating sales of counterfeit goods in South Africa

This article focuses on the effects of modern-day paid digital marketing, commonly known as digital content creation, on the escalating sales of counterfeit goods in South Africa. The marketing and promotion of South African businesses has always been facilitated by established media and marketing houses, which are formal businesses and statutorily bound. This arrangement caused these establishments to shy away from advertising counterfeit goods, to avoid liability from third parties. However, with the move towards digitisation, businesses have swayed from using traditional marketing companies for advertisements and promotion to using the services of individual content creators, popularly known as social media influencers. These influencers/digital content creators are best described as independent personalities who can affect the buying behaviour of their social media audience, as a result of their persuasiveness and engagement with their audience. This is done through advertising on various online platforms such as social media networks, video channels, websites, and blogs. Formerly, celebrities were considered for digital marketing under the guise of “company endorsements and ambassadorships”. Nonetheless, this has since changed as ordinary people, irrespective of their age, financial backgrounds, and with a substantial social media audience, are eligible. Nowadays, social media marketing has become a suitable platform for advertising almost every product or service, despite the legality or illegality thereof. This article aims to investigate the effects of South Africa’s modern-day digital advertising on the increasing sales of counterfeit goods in South Africa and to show a need for explicit legal rules aimed at prohibiting the marketing of fake goods.