Luxo falsificado e estratégias de distinção: TikTok como nova vitrine de consumo de roupas e acessórios de luxo falsificados

Abstract

This study analyzes how digital influencers on TikTok contribute to the normalization of consumption of counterfeit luxury fashion and accessories. The main research question examines how these practices relate to mechanisms of social distinction within consumer culture. The study rests on bibliographic and documentary research and includes an analysis of digital influencers’ profiles. The theoretical framework is grounded in Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and social distinction and Baudrillard’s theory of the consumption of signs. The research also explores contemporary issues of consumer behavior and social media while highlighting the contradictions inherent in the counterfeiting phenomenon. Although counterfeiting threatens the exclusivity of certain brands and generates substantial economic losses (BRL 84 billion per year), it is simultaneously justified by arguments rooted in the inaccessibility of luxury goods produced by structural inequalities. The study provides a critical reflection on the dynamics of counterfeiting, social distinction, the value of signs as totems and the reconfiguration of these dynamics through social media platforms.