In 2018, some of the biggest names in lighting control – MA Lighting, Avolites and MADRIX – announced that they were joining forces to tackle the ever-growing issue of counterfeit products. These efforts saw some immediate results, most notably from the Guangzhou Entertainment Technology (GET) exhibition of that year where counterfeit products were taken off the stands of exhibitors with the full support of the tradeshow organisers. This sent a clear message that this blatant wrongdoing was not going to be tolerated. However, six years on, the companies have expressed that this is still a troubling issue within the live events market, and in many respects, the practice of counterfeiting has worsened since the turn of the decade.
“The issue is getting much worse,” asserted Daniel Kannenberg, Brand and Product Management at MA Lighting International. “One of the main reasons for this is counterfeiters have new ways to spread their misleading messages about their copies via social media and other online sales tools.”
He went on to explain that this greater ability to mislead clients with confounding announcements to sell their online exacerbated the problem when the world began to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic and events started up again. “Straight after the pandemic when people were trying to get back on their feet, budgets were understandably smaller and so the low prices these counterfeiters were offering looked appealing at a very superficial analysis,” he explained.
Many of those buying these products did not realise they were not getting the genuine article. “For trying to clean the web from this fraudulent announcements that we’ve employed an external company to reduce and, in some cases, delete adverts for social media that are promoting the sale of counterfeit products,” stated Kannenberg.
In fact, MA Lighting has a team of six full-time employees tackling the complex issue of counterfeiting. “It’s offering an inferior product into the market at a lesser price and, in some cases, users don’t even know it’s a counterfeit,” explained Avolites Managing Director, Paul Wong. “That in turn affects us as that negative experience translates into what people think of the quality of Avolites products.”
Wong went on to explain that the company had spent a great deal of money in recent years to create a secure system for their software.
“It’s why I really make a point that counterfeit is theft,” stated Richard Salzedo, former Chairman of Avolites and now a consultant for the company. “It’s theft of everyone who bought a genuine console,” he added, referring to the investment people make into an Avolites desk that pays off the years of R&D and product innovation. “People also must realise that if they have a counterfeit desk, sooner or later something will go wrong with it and there is no support if it does.”
Having been at the forefront of the battle for a long time, MA Lighting Director of Business Development Franco Zaghini, based out of Singapore, spoke passionately about the juxtaposition between theses counterfeiters and legitimate manufacturers.
“First of all, those buying an MA counterfeit, they are inconsiderate, just basing on the cheaper price, not taking into consideration so many other factors, like poor quality of the hardware and instability of the software used on a counterfeited hardware, thus putting on serious risk the entire show along with the reputation of the lighting designer and the company in charge,” Zaghini said.
“The other aspect to consider is that counterfeiting is a crime worldwide and has no respect for any standard including human rights and child labour, not to talk about nature and environment, compared to companies like MA that have a strict code of conduct in compliance with International rules and laws.”
Zaghini also made the case that the value of a counterfeit desk is equivalent to zero with a significantly short lifespan and no support available when things go wrong. “We guarantee spare parts to be available five to 10 years after end of life of any desk along with 24/7 support for any buyers of legitimate MA Lighting desks.”
MA Lighting has been directing a lot of resources in spreading the awareness of counterfeit to both its distributors and end users. “This does not only affect us at MA or other manufacturers but first of all the users of these products and the entire industry,” he underlined. “You have people using these fake products and sometimes they don’t even know, which runs the risk of destroying the show.”
A lot of the interactions with this issue come through MA’s technical support team when a user calls up with an issue with the desk and after several questions, it’s clear that the product they are using is not a genuine MA Lighting console.
“The first step in that scenario is to make that person aware of the situation and more often than not we will have success,” stated Kannenberg. On the other hand, he admitted that some end users might be more than aware they are using counterfeit products and, in that case, MA might consider legal action – again something the company has continued to invest in recent years.
Having united in the past on this topic, Avolites and MA Lighting agreed that collaborating with others in the field was one way in which the industry can take a stand against this rising tide. “The fight will be more efficient the more people are involved,” stated Kannenberg. “We would love to see more manufacturers join this active fight rather than just reacting.”
As far as advice to end users, according to Kannenberg, if you are ever unsure if a product you come across is counterfeit, contact your local MA support team. “All our distributors can help, and they will be able to explain the next steps. We also have a dedicated email address – legal@malighting.com – where people can send over documents and queries about this very topic.”
Zaghini added: “We are extremely thankful to those lighting designers and operators who have been cooperating with us to limit this cancer in our industry.”
Wong commented: “In Europe and North America there has been a wide amount of support from users that will call out counterfeits. However, in Asia and South America, we often see the greater issue of fake products. The goal is to change the perception of counterfeiting, but it will take some time to turn that ship around.”
According to Avolites’ Andrew McKinlay, this ambitious mission will only be changed if everyone within the industry works together. “Manufacturers alone can’t do everything that is needed to fix this problem. The whole industry must want to get rid of them.”
In closing, Kannenberg explained that MA Lighting will be rolling out a campaign in the coming months to further highlight this issue in the industry, which will no doubt be a talking point for the autumn and winter trade shows.
Words: Stew Hume
