Media releases

• As downtown renewal continues, Brock forum lets residents weigh in on future steps

  Wednesday, September 21, 2016 | By Brock University

  MEDIA ADVISORY: R00201 – 20 September 2016

  Residents in downtown St. Catharines are pleased with downtown revitalization efforts, but would like to see more open spaces and places to sit, relax and stroll, according to research by Brock University’s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO).

  “They want to see places where people are comfortable and engaged in pleasurable, low-cost or free leisure activities,”said Brock geography Professor Michael Ripmeester, who surveyed 300 residents as part of the NCO’s research paper released this summer, Downtown revitalization in St. Catharines: Building the public space.

  Downtown renewal will be the topic of a public forum led by a panel featuring Ripmeester, St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik and Brock Faculty of Education Interim Dean David Siegel. The meeting takes place Monday, Sept. 26 from 10 a.m. to noon in Room 207 of the Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Complex at Brock.

  The NCO is a research unit at Brock that produces policy briefs and activities that address a wide range of issues on current and emerging trends at the regional, provincial and national levels.

  Topics covered in past research briefs include: the presence and impacts of poverty in Niagara; representation on municipal councils in Ontario; and barriers to post-secondary education.
  Monday’s discussion will mark the first event for the NCO under the leadership of Brock Political Science associate professor Charles Conteh, who was recently named the observatory’s director.

  “My goal is to create platforms of conversation that we can translate into research questions and then provide evidence to inform action and policy,” Conteh said. “We’re developing a discipline of paying very careful attention to what our community is saying: to understand, feel the pulse of where they are, and then leverage the expertise to respond to them.”

  The panel discussion is open to the media and the general public. There’s no cost to attend.

  More information on the NCO policy brief can be found in The Brock News.

  Niagara Community Observatory Panel Discussion
  What: Presentation and panel discussion on the topic: Downtown revitalization in St. Catharines: Building the public space
  Who: Mike Ripmeester, Professor of Geography, Brock University; Walter Sendzik, Mayor, City of St. Catharines; David Siegel, Interim Dean, Faculty of Education, Brock University
  When: Monday, Sept. 26, 10 a.m. – noon
  Where: Cairns Family Health and Bioscience Complex, Room 207, Brock University.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

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  Categories: Media releases

• Brock research examines why people choose to buy counterfeit products

  Wednesday, September 21, 2016 | By Brock University

  MEDIA RELEASE: R00200 – 20 September 2016

  When it comes to luxury goods, people don’t always know they’re buying a fake. Some differences are so inconspicuous even a seasoned shopper could miss them. But what about situations where people spot or even look for fake products and buy them on purpose?

  Although it’s widely known that counterfeit purchases are unethical and in some cases illegal, the demand for cheaper, imitation products continues to skyrocket. In an industry filled with fakes and phonies, there’s nothing fabricated about the dollars it rakes in: it’s a $1.77-trillion industry with no indication of slowing down.

  Research by Kai-Yu Wang, associate professor of marketing at Brock University’s Goodman School of Business, looks at the ethics surrounding this industry and what motivates people to intentionally purchase counterfeit products even when the act doesn’t align with their personal morals.

  “The demand for counterfeit luxury brands is robust and growing, although the consumption of counterfeit goods is viewed as unethical. If saving money is the main reason for counterfeit goods consumption, why don’t consumers simply choose cheaper generic brands instead?” questions Wang.

  The research shows that beyond the obvious money-saving tactic, people are motivated to buy counterfeit items by wanting to enhance their self-image and because they enjoy the “thrill of the hunt” or feeling as though they are part of a “secret society” of discerning shoppers who know just where and how to spot good deals on luxury brand knock-offs.
  “We also wanted to find out how consumers cope with cognitive dissonance associated with their unethical counterfeit consumption behaviour,” says Wang.
  Counterfeit luxury in hand, consumers may feel guilty after their purchase but deal with these feelings by denying responsibility or by identifying with loyalty to something else — for example, reasoning that they actually prefer the counterfeit design to the real thing.

  The research also shows that people who buy counterfeit items do not get embarrassed or feel ashamed of their purchase, but instead can experience these feelings if their deception is exposed to their social circles.
  Through in-depth interviews with counterfeit-savvy consumers, Wang and his co-authors discovered a range of personal morals — from recognizing the damage they were doing to the brand to rationalizing that the fakes were good for the brand, embodying the saying “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

  The study, co-authored with colleagues Xuemei Bian, University of Kent, Andrew Smith, Nottingham University Business School, and Natalia Yannopoulou, Newcastle University Business School, has been published online by the Journal of Business Research.

  For more information or for assistance arranging interviews:

  * Dan Dakin, Media Relations Officer, Brock University ddakin@brocku.ca, 905-688-5550 x5353 or 905-347-1970

  * Kamila Karwowski, Communications Manager, Jan Kelley kkarwowski@jankelley.com, 905-631-3982 or 416-999-4966

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  Categories: Media releases