Does counterfeiting affect luxury customer-based brand equity?

In recent years, there has been an important debate on the harmful effect of counterfeits on luxury brands. Marketing literature states that fake luxury products negatively affect consumers' perception of the genuine brand. Contrarily, some studies have reported that fake alternatives do not necessary lower genuine brand product evaluations, providing some interesting evidence on single theoretical constructs referring to attitudes, perceptions or behaviors. The aim of this study is to deepen the investigation into this phenomenon and try to shed some light on the effects of counterfeit awareness on genuine brand users' and on potential users' customer-based brand equity (CBBE). Results show that counterfeits have no negative effect on consumers' perception of the luxury brand. Moreover, a positive shift on the six blocks of CBBE pyramid is observed in consumers who are aware of the existence of a fake alternative. The innovative nature of these findings is supported by a detailed data analysis and the managerial implication discussion.