Bangkok Day 8: Museum of Counterfeit Goods

The Museum of Counterfeit goods (http://www.tilleke.com/firm/community/museum) is an amazing museum that is totally unique and worth visiting! Tours are only available on Mondays at 2PM and Thursdays at 10AM, and you have to schedule at least 24 hours in advance. To be granted access you must email Pinta (the receptionist?) information about yourself (name, citizenship, contact information and profession) then wait for a confirmation. It’s not really cool to say “unemployed vagabond” so Ian and I always say we are actors. In the middle of the tour, our guide said “Pinta tells me you are a comedian” to me. I said nothing about comedy in my request for admission to the tour. These guys do their homework! 

The museum was created by the Tilleke & Gibbons Law Firm, who specializes in intellectual property infringement. It is located on the 26th floor of the Supalai Tower- a commercial building where the law firm exists. Since it is a working building it is definitely not your normal tourist attraction. 

Every single day when we walk out of our hotel we are bombarded by taxi drivers asking us where we need to go. Today was the first day we actually needed a taxi, and not one driver wanted to take us to the museum because it wasn’t a touristy enough route. So reminiscent of NYC cab drivers! When we got closer to the main road (Sukhumvit) we did get a few offers, with bids of around 500 Baht and no one willing to run the meter. We settled at 200 Baht, knowing very well we were still getting ripped off, but figured the extra $3 we were paying would at least get us there on time. (The building called us a cab for the ride home, and the meter totaled 80 Baht.)

When we walked into the foyer, we immediately recognized the other two people taking the tour- they were the rookies from the Taste of Thailand Tour at Prachak! How is Bangkok so small?

The Museum of Counterfeit goods is home to over 4,000 counterfeit or fake items encompassing 14 categories: clothing, footwear, watches and eyewear, accessories, cosmetics and perfumes, drugs, copyrighted works, food and household products, stationary and office supplies, alcohol and cigarettes, automotive parts, tools, electrical devices, and miscellaneous products. The museum tour was free and our tour guide said it will remain so in order to continue to educate the public. 

Today I learned the difference between counterfeit and fake; Counterfeit means an imitation intended to be passed off deceptively as genuine, while fake means anything not genuine. (So counterfeit has an imitation component.) All counterfeits are fakes, not all fakes are counterfeit- Get it?

I figured I’d see the usual Ray-Ban and Gucci knockoffs but I was not expecting to see fake calculators, lightbulbs, motorcycles and even Cheetos (new definition of dangerously cheesy). Some of the items we weren’t allowed to take pictures of because they were either part of a pending case or the companies asked that the knock-offs not be publicized. For example, there were a lot of medicines that were fake but pharmaceutical companies don’t want the public to be alarmed.

I’ve worked in fashion and I consider myself educated enough to spot a fake designer bag or pair of sunnies. Some of the knockoffs were apparent, reading “Overtime” instead of Ovaltine. Others were so good that looking at them side-by-side and seeing the smallest differences in shape or packaging was the only way you could see a difference. Ian is a guitar buff and noticed that the fake Yamaha guitar was in someways better crafted than the real one. In the pictures below, white tags with a "G" are genuine and black tags with an "F" are fake.

Anna Sui Cosmetics

Love that this ink says "genuine" and has copyright information on the packaging.

Counterfeit staples and office supplies

We've all heard the sales pitch that great knock-offs are often made in the same factories as the real thing, and that's why you can have great quality items at black market prices. The guide confirmed this, and this PGA Golf outfit was extra interesting because it was produced by a formerly-licensed manufacturer. They illegally produced what was at one time the legit product. Notice irony in the hat that says "These Guys Are Good."

After the museum we went back to Health Land to get the premium massages- 90 minute aromatherapy couples massage for $30 each. Here I am being adorable:

We parted ways and I went to get a SIM card. I chose DTAC because it seems to have the best coverage in all of Thailand. I paid $15 for one month of unlimited data. Eat that Verizon!