The claims of DaVinci Furniture that its products are made and imported from Italy and that of Scient and Ausnutria that their milk and milk products are made from "imported milk powder" have proved untrue. But the use of the "imported" tag to cheat consumers is not new, says an article in People's Daily. Excerpts:

Brand strategy is an advanced form of market competition. Prices of products increase manyfold if they are imported. But many unscrupulous companies use the "imported" label when in reality their products are made in China to cheat consumers. This is a fraud and should be condemned and the fraudsters punished.

The basic reason why such companies "prosper" is consumers' weakness for imported products. Most of such consumers are rich and have blind faith in foreign goods, and many of them have little or no knowledge of foreign products.

Globalization has narrowed the gap in quality and design between domestic and foreign products. Besides, many Chinese factories manufacture famous global brands.

In fact, the quality of a foreign product that costs hundreds of thousands of yuan may not be better than a domestic one, which costs many times less. This has made the public pay close attention to the quality and prices of genuine and fake imported products. Many people in China today are so well-informed that they can expose any foul play in branding.

The purpose of such an expose is not to blame a particular company. Instead, the aim is to help warn consumers against frauds and fake products.

But all said and done, the authorities have to improve market supervision to ensure that companies or individuals that deceive or try to deceive consumers will be punished.