The rate at which fake products are on the increase is becoming more alarming. From medication to skin care products, to others. The relevant bodies in charge of checking what comes into the country and what is been circulated in stores need to do the needful. Owners of the brand should be on the lookout too. Below is the experience of a Nigerian lady in a supermarket.
Will corruption ever end in Nigeria?
Last week, I went to one of the branches of a popular supermarket to get a particular soap.
Now, I’ve bought the soap only once from them and at a different branch but it was a bit good – cleared my pimples – so I went back for more.
I picked up the soap I wanted, extract soap, and was about to leave the aisle when one of the sales reps approached me.
He looked at the soap in my basket and asked me “Do you prefer the Nigerian brand or should I bring the foreign?”
I was confused when he asked that question. What do you mean Nigerian and foreign brands? Shey it’s not the same soap?
So I didn’t respond. He persisted oh, and asked me again, “Ma, should I bring the foreign one for you or are you okay with the Nigerian one?”
Had to ask what he meant by Nigerian brand because I only know fake and original.
So he explained that the Original is the foreign one and it worked better while the Nigerian one, well, it’s Nigerian 🤣🤣.
Then he took me to where the “foreign brand” was carefully hidden. He showed me the difference. The original soap package was light orange while the Nigerian brand had a deeper shade of orange.
I was pained and dumbfounded. I felt betrayed
The soap I had at home had a deeper shade of orange.
The soap bars they displayed on the shelf for extract were all of the deeper shade.
When I wasn’t saying anything, he asked again if I’d buy it.
“How much?”
The price difference between the original and the inferior was N300.
That’s when I got angry. Why would you guys display the fake ones then?
Like, you’re a supermarket, them no dey price your goods, people come to you because they feel you sell the original product.
Why fill your shelves with fake products?
I told the sales rep I wasn’t going to buy it then. There was no proof that the “foreign brand” was original anyways.
In fact, the next person his colleague brought put it aptly
According to her, “All nah fake. This one you dey show me fit be the higher version of the fake ones”.
He lost two customers that day. We left the extract soap for him.
Now I’m wondering, how many fake products do they keep in stock? How many fake products have I purchased at the price of the original from these corrupt franchises?
Nothing is real in Nigeria. You just can’t trust anyone.
Picture A is the Nigerian brand
Picture B is the “foreign” brand
P.S.: I kinda wished I took the Nigerian brand after all. I dunno if it’s the sudden change in soap brand, the soap I bought, or the fact that I’m eating too much groundnuts these days but I’ve got a bad case of acne this week. The painful ones. Well, this too sha pass.
#udodiriunu
