Authenticity is nothing more than an expression of social hierarchy.

Consumers use products to differentiate themselves from others and to make inferences about the identities and social roles of others (Berger & Heath, 2008; Englis & Solomon, 1995; Tajfel, 2010). Consumers' shared understanding of the symbolic meanings of products, whether through a brand's logo, name, patterns or other visibly identifying feature, and the constellation of products that reflect a certain lifestyle (Englis & Solomon, 1995; Lowry, Englis, Shavitt, & Solomon, 2001), is an important driver in consumers' communicating to others the groups to which they aspire to belong or people to whom they wish to be similar or dissimilar (Escalas & Bettman, 2003; Berger & Heath, 2007). To the extent that an individual uses products typical of a social category, such as social class, and does not use products associated with other roles, that individual is more likely to be viewed as a member of that category (Solomon & Assael, 1988; Berger & Heath, 2008; Escalas & Bettman, 2003; White & Dahl, 2006, 2007). Luxury brands, in particular, communicate social class standing and become emblematic of an aspirational lifestyle (Englis & Solomon, 1995). Counterfeit versions, which provide easier access to luxury, can trigger these aspirational lifestyles and fulfill symbolic needs, even vicariously, when viewing other like-minded people using them. When female consumers seek to belong to a particular aspirational group that uses expensive luxury handbags, they may perceive use of a counterfeit by similar others as a symbol of the importance of the brand to their current group membership and, in turn, may increase their favorable perceptions of the genuine luxury brand. Dissociative “out-group” reference groups can also impact consumer brand preferences (Berger & Heath, 2008; Escalas & Bettman, 2003; Solomon & Assael, 1988; White & Dahl, 2006, 2007). Dissimilar others using a counterfeit may lead consumers to weaken their ties to the genuine brand (White & Dahl, 2006), and these dissociations may impact choices (McFerran et al., 2010). Consumers may abandon brands when out-groups adopt them and/or when the brands lose their exclusivity (Berger & Heath, 2007, 2008; White & Dahl, 2006). In general, therefore, people are drawn toward products used by in-groups and repelled by products used by out-groups (e.g. Stephens, Markus, & Townsend, 2007).

However, social class is used not only to communicate social identity; consumers also use it to communicate social hierarchy or rank. Social hierarchy is the unequal distribution of status across individuals (Fragile, Overbeck, & Neale, 2011; Magee & Galinsky, 2008), and social class is an important type of ranking within a social hierarchy (Kraus, Piff, & Keltner, 2009). Attempts to attain social standing are so commonplace that desire for status is considered a fundamental human motive (Fragile et al., 2011; Frank, 1985; Zitek & Tiedens, 2012). Theories of social hierarchy note that there is a general attraction toward tastes of in-groups and an aversion toward tastes of out-groups, but that asymmetries may also occur. In the current context, three conceptual ideas in the social hierarchy literature lead to predictions about how consumers will respond to viewing persons of the same or different social class using counterfeit products.