Counterfeit Goods By Dana Thomas Analysis

On late August of 2007, Dana Thomas writes to the general public on the horrors made possible by the buying and selling of counterfeit fashion goods to persuade the end of the consumerism funding monstrous acts. Through the incorporation of ethos, logos, and pathos in her journalism, Thomas persuades her audience with the uncoverings of the sources behind the making of the counterfeit goods.
In the fourth paragraph, Thomas writes on the statistics of the fashion industry concerning counterfeit goods. According to the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group, “at least 11 percent of the world’s clothing is fake” and with that piece of crucial information, Thomas shows the world that she is fully knowledgeable on the production of counterfeit goods. Her appeal to the public on her credibility is of huge importance as she plans to win the public over to her side.

In the fifth paragraph, Thomas draws various reasonable appeals to the public beginning with the background to the sort of acts that get funded through the consuming of counterfeit goods.

To the average person, buying a knockoff purse is a great save of money but in reality “the counterfeiting rackets are run by crime syndicates that also deal in narcotics, weapons, child prostitution, human trafficking and terrorism”. With the provided background information, Thomas’ audience would be able to grasp the reasoning to stop the buying and selling of said counterfeit goods. The logical option for the consumer would be to stop the process as Thomas then adds that the “sales of counterfeit T-shirts may have helped the 1993 World Trade Center bombing…”. Her message is being strongly conveyed with the form of reason through her

writing.
Throughout the lasting five paragraphs, Thomas emphasizes the role of children in the world of counterfeit fashion. With a lasting emotional appeal to the public, Thomas truly brings out her purpose with the descriptions of first hand encounters with children in Chinese work factories. With the debunking of a western myth, Thomas describes the factories with “...two dozen children, ages 8 to 13, gluing and sewing together fake luxury-brand handbags”. Children wasting their childhoods in clandestine factories is real heart wrenching issue and a part of the countless atrocities created by the distribution of counterfeit items described by Thomas that significantly gets her audience going.
Overall, Thomas creates a great deal of appeals ranging from logic and reason to emotional appeals to get real persuasion going with her audience. Her purpose is clearly states in her journalism and can be identified with statistics and references about child labor to even terrorism.