08.02.11
Gibson, Made-In-China, and the Washington Post
UPDATED
Perhaps unsurprisingly to readers, the Washington Post (as of now) did not respond to a DD query on the banner ad it ran which pointed to sales for counterfeit US guitars made in China, trafficked on the Gibson brand name.
However, today the ad changed:
Contrast with ad banner image running previously.
The new ad explicitly states “Made in China.” This looks better. But I imagine it would still be somewhat infuriating to Gibson.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t get the newspaper off the challenged ethics and moral hazard hook completely.
Gibson does manufacture guitars in China. They are branded as Epiphones. But Epiphones are clearly marked and obviously different than Gibson guitars made in Nashville. (For example, Epiphone — foreign made — Les Paul headstock. Gibson — made in Nashville — Les Paul headstock.)
The Epiphone made-in-China headstock is clearly different than a Gibson headstock. And that is so noted at my original piece here.
However, clicking through the new ad running on the Washington Post today brings you to the same underlying problem. Here is a guitar, advertised for sale, with a Gibson headstock, photographed from the back — by itself something of a deceptive practice — that says “Made in USA.” (Click on the thumbnail photo of the headstock — that’s the part of the guitar with tuning keys — to the right below the main picture.)
It’s the same thing you could access when you clicked through the Post ad last week. No American made Les Paul sells for the price advertised. Zero. Zip. Nada.
And, again, here is a video — one of many on YouTube — discussing Chinese made counterfeits. This is a significant problem for Gibson as well as other American manufacturers. And it is safe to say that it has grown beyond policing at the company level.
Postscript: You float on the Washington Post’s website enough and you’ll still catch the old ad sans the “Made in China” change. The Post simply won’t or can’t get rid of all of it although it’s become obvious a change someone had no original intention of making was made.