Thread: Unbearable Likeness: B2S Apologizes for Fake Kumamon

By Teeranai Charuvastra
Khao Sod English

BANGKOK — Fake brand name items aren’t new in Thailand, where counterfeit Louis Vuitton and Ray-Bans are openly sold – a cultural practice that has long frustrated intellectual property holders worldwide.

But the feat of fakery reached a new height with a knockoff of Kumamon, the official mascot of Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture who’s charmed East Asia and the internet with his rosy cheeks and perplexing smile which sits somewhere between adorable and evil.

B2S, a major bookstore chain in most major shopping malls, apologized Friday for not only parading a visibly fake Kumamon mascot in a recent sales event, but also selling goods branded with his likeness without permission from the prefecture, who owns the copyright to its bear-like ambassador.

more Unbearable Likeness: B2S Apologizes for Fake Kumamon

So many naughty things are done knowingly, because the perpetrators think (often rightly so) that if caught, all they have to do is apologise or become a monk temporarily.


And calling it "a cultural practice" (which it's not) is merely excusing it.

No Cambodians involved? I read a few articles recently saying counterfeit products were a cambodian business, tarnishing Thailand image so there must be some foreign people involved...

This story isn't solely about the use of a fake mascot by the bookstore chain, there were also books labelled and the event was supposed to be a fundaiser for the japanese province ... will they receive any money or this was also a fraud?

If even well-established chains are counterfeiting, it's hard do criticise somchai selling fake Ray-ban on the markets ...for 50/100 bahts nobody believe it's the real item...