Terror's Purse Strings By Dana Thomas Summary

Today, designer fashion is very popular amongst Americans’ in all age groups. Head out to the mall on any weekend and it’s sure to be packed with people shopping in upscale stores like Barney’s, Gucci, or Louis Vuitton. Because of peoples yearn for these designer fashions, counterfeiting is a major issue throughout the world. In Dana Thomas’s article, "Terror’s Purse Strings", Thomas discusses how counterfeiting has become a major problem throughout the world; She also points out that the majority of these counterfeit operations are run out of Chinese factories and how many of these factories employ young children who are sold or sent off by their families to go manufacturer these “luxury” counterfeit goods. I chose Thomas’s article because

it stood out to me. Counterfeiting is something we all have heard about, but for the most part is never really addressed.

As I read the article very thoroughly looking for appeals to rhetoric I found that it was not only a well addressed call to action, but also had all the aspects of a classical argument. Thomas’s article presents an argument that counterfeiting is not only an issue of unethicality but also linked to much bigger crimes such as terrorist acts or violating adolescent’s wellbeing. She writes a classical article that many can apply to events that unfortunately happen every day around the world, kairos, describing her personal account of young children performing hard labor illegally, pathos, states the need for consumer to know the repercussions of buying counterfeit goods, logos, and demonstrates ethos by keeping an even tone throughout her argument. She never becomes aggressive but instead calmly educates us on what we, the consumers need to know and how to address the

issue.
Thomas’s article provides the reader with her view and accounts of a major problem in the fashion industry. She educates us with consumer statistics, interviews with elite designers, and her accounts all the way down to the production of these counterfeit goods. In many of these examples, Thomas is explaining how the consumer is the main cause of counterfeit goods being produced. Bringing to light facts such as 2 out of 3 Europeans are proud to tell their family or friends that they purchased a counterfeit item. Dana Thomas is a journalist and New York Times bestselling author; she began her career writing for the Style section of The Washington Post in Washington, D.C. and from 1995 to 2011, she served as a cultural and fashion correspondent for Newsweek in Paris. She has written for the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, WSJ, the Financial Times, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Elle Decor and was the European editor of Condé Nast Portfolio. Thomas is a member of the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris and the Overseas Press Club. She taught journalism at The American University of Paris from 1996 to 1999. In 1987, she received the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation Scholarship and the Ellis Haller Award for Outstanding Achievement in Journalism.
The kairos in Thomas’ argument is practical being that New York Fashion Week was coming up shortly after the article was published. Also America was right in the middle of the “War on Terrorism” in Iraq and Afghanistan which are two events that appeal greatly to kairos.
Originally, this article was posted in The New York Times which is a website/newspaper whose audience is likely an educated, informed, working class sub set. Dana Thomas has been a journalist for many major publications. This gives her much credibility because of her extensive history in the journalism industry. I found Thomas’s article easy to read and to understand, she’s very straight forward with her writing but with great detail. She manages to inform the reader while giving you her argument in a clear, well-structured manor.
One can understand where Thomas is coming from in regards to her argument along with her firsthand experience seeing young Chinese children performing hard labor in the act. She goes on to explain how after a raid of a counterfeit factory the children were throwing cans at the police because they put them out of work. This is sad that children even have to worry about things like this, instead of living a normal childhood. These children get paid very small amounts to fund a multimillion dollar business.
Throughout this piece Thomas reiterated the different effects of counterfeiting on America.

One comment she makes is “most people think buying a counterfeit bag or wallet is harmless, but counterfeiting rackets are run by crime syndicates that also deal with drugs, prostitution, and weapons”. Her argument against purchasing counterfeit goods is valid. Her statement is pure facts mixed with a common thought and this is hard to debate because it’s simply logic.. Another comment she makes is “if we stop buying fake, the supply chain will dry up and counterfeiters will go out of business. This is a clear call to action, one may debate this and say otherwise but for the most part it still makes sense. Being straight forward could make an audience lose interest in the argument or sway them to an opposing view, but this is dependent on the individual reader. Regardless of all of this it’s up to the consumers to make the decision on what they want to do. Many people just choose to turn a blind eye to the facts, so one may obliterate any point made up in Thomas’s article. The article is mainly one sided but leaves room for opposing

thoughts.
Thomas’s article is fair and thought out. A point she brings up is that 11% of the world’s fashion goods are counterfeit. Her response is to have genuine designers educate the consumers on what’s real and is not real, and show the consumers the unethical processes the consumer influencing when they purchase a fake good. This is a strong appeal to ethos and proves to me that Thomas knows her facts and knows what need to be done to fix an ongoing issue in the world. It shows that she’s not only making her point but trying to make a difference in the world.
Dana Thomas’s article was well written. Straight to the point with many appeals to rhetoric. The tone of the article is calm and neutral but she still manages to portray her point to the reader in a convincing manner. I feel purchasing counterfeit goods is not only unethical but there are many underlying issues that the common consumer of these goods aren’t aware of. I feel Thomas is a very persuasive writer, one that could appeal to any audience. If one were to try and tear into her about a topic she would stay calm, state the facts, and complete the ultimate goal of successfully persuading the audience.