The most commonly and intentionally bought counterfeit products by young Europeans are clothes and accessories (17%), followed by footwear (14%). Also, about 52% had bought at least one fake product online over the past year, both intentionally or by accident, a survey exploring the behaviour of young Europeans towards intellectual property infringement in a post-pandemic context has found.
The survey: The survey, from the European Observatory, aimed to shed light on the latest trends in the use of legal and illegal online sources among Europeans aged 15–24, and their perceptions and behaviours towards counterfeit goods. The results were presented as part of the Pan European Awareness campaign for the World Anti-Counterfeiting Day.
- The survey looked at the two sides of IP infringement: the trends in young people purchasing counterfeit goods and accessing pirated content, assessing trends since 2016.
- Price and availability remain the main factors for buying counterfeits and for digital piracy, but peer and social influence is also increasingly important, said the 2022 edition of the Intellectual Property and Youth Scoreboard, released by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).
Key findings:
- More than half (52%) of Europeans surveyed aged between15 and 24 said they had bought at least one fake product online over the past year, both intentionally or by accident, and a third (33%) said they had accessed digital content from illegal sources.
- Looking at those who did it on purpose, 37% bought a fake product and 21% used, played, downloaded, or streamed content from illegal sources.
- On the other hand, 60% of young Europeans said they preferred to access digital content from legal sources, compared to 50% in 2019.
- Price and availability remain the main factors for buying counterfeits and for digital piracy, but peer and social influence is also increasingly important.
- Cyberthreats, cyber fraud and the environmental impact are among the main deterrents.
Purchase of fakes: Reflecting the post-pandemic context, the survey confirmed that 37% of young people bought one or several fake products intentionally, which is a significant increase compared to the previous results (14% in 2019). The figure varies notably by country, with the highest percentage being in Greece (62%) and the lowest in Czechia (24%).
The counterfeit products that young people most commonly buy intentionally are:
- clothes and accessories (17%)
- footwear (14%)
- electronic devices (13%), and
- hygiene, cosmetics, personal care and perfumes (12%).
- 48% had not bought such products or were unsure whether or not they had.
Young people are also misled into buying fakes: unintentional purchase of fake products stands at 37%, and respondents acknowledged difficulties in distinguishing genuine goods from counterfeits.
Online piracy: As regards digital content:
- Access from legal sources is gaining ground among the younger generations.
- 60% said that they had not used, played, downloaded or streamed content from illegal sources in the past year compared to 51% in 2019, and 40% in 2016, thus confirming the trend.
- However, intentional piracy remains stable, with 21% of young consumers (one in five) acknowledging they had knowingly accessed pirated content in the last 12 months. A significant proportion of young people were misled into accessing pirated content.
- 2% accessed pirated content by accident, and 7% do not know if they have.
- *The main type of pirated content was films (61%) and TV series (52%), followed by music (36%), using mainly dedicated websites, apps and social media channels.
Who said what:
This third edition of the IP and Youth Scoreboard, published during the European Year of Youth, confirms the trends identified in previous editions and offers richer insights into youngsters’ perceptions and attitudes. At a time when e-commerce and digital consumption have been significantly growing, the increase in the intentional and unintentional purchase of fake goods is a worrying trend. As for piracy, it does not go down, even if young consumers increasingly prefer content from legal sources. This new analysis provides a valuable tool to help stakeholders, policy makers as well as educators and civil society organisations shape awareness-raising initiatives to support the informed choices of our young citizens and consumers.
— Christian Archambeau
Executive Director
EUIPO
What makes young people think twice? For both products and digital content, young people mentioned personal risks of cyber fraud and cyberthreats as important factors that would curb their behaviours. Also, a better understanding of the negative impact on the environment or on society are now more widely mentioned by the young people surveyed.
The 2022 study follows on from the first and second editions of the Intellectual Property and Youth Scoreboard, published in 2016 and 2019.
The 2022 quantitative analysis was conducted amongst a total of 22 021 young people aged 15-24 in the 27 EU Member States, between 7-28 February 2022. The 2022 Youth Scoreboard covers quantitative and qualitative insights regarding attitudes and behaviours of young consumers and assesses trends since the previous study in 2019. It also looks into new areas, thus helping stakeholders and policy makers to tailor policy developments and develop relevant awareness initiatives.
