Dupe culture is creating a new challenge for toy and gaming brands

Brand Protection has historically focused on tackling counterfeit products pretending to be  the genuine article. Today though, advancing technology coupled with a weak economy is driving a different threat, one arguably more complex because consumers often know exactly what they are buying: dupes.

If a product goes viral, a dupe is never far behind. What began in fashion and beauty has rapidly spread into toys, games and collectibles. Unlike traditional counterfeits, dupes rarely pretend to be authentic. Instead, they present themselves as affordable alternatives of popular products, borrowing visual cues of successful brands but maintaining enough distinction to avoid being exact copies.

The dupe culture is fueled by a mix of  economic pressure, creator influence and AI-powered content creation, where technology is shaping consumer behavior and online trends. It raises an important question for IP teams, how can they protect a brand when consumers no longer expect imitations to hide their true identity?

The rise of the 'acceptable fake' 

Social media is changing the way consumers discover products, with platforms like TikTok and Instagram using algorithms to amplify trends at speed. Meanwhile, inflation and increasing living costs have made lower-priced alternatives more appealing to many consumers. This has led to dupes becoming normalized, celebrated as savvy purchases.

Meanwhile, younger consumers are often less concerned with owning an original product than they are with capturing the aesthetic or owning the latest game. 60% of North American and 50% of British 13 to 39 year olds would still buy a dupe even if they could afford the original. This creates a particularly challenging environment for toy and games brands.

Whether it is a collectible figurine, plush toy or licensed game, successful products are now likely to attract imitation almost as quickly as they attract consumer demand.

Why toys have become a prime target

The toy and games sector has many characteristics that make dupe culture thrive. Successful products often rely on distinctive visual identities, instantly recognizable across multiple generations, like Super Mario or Pikachu. Limited-edition releases, collector habits and viral social media increase demand, creating shortages that imitation products are quick to exploit.

The recent popularity of Labubu collectibles is a good example. As genuine products became increasingly difficult to obtain, imitation "Lafufu" versions soon appeared across online marketplaces and social platforms. Generative AI tools helped produce convincing product descriptions, marketing copy and promotional images at scale. This meant sellers could create thousands of listings at speed, diluting the brand's distinctiveness and leaving reactive enforcement struggling to keep up.

As well as diluting a brand, unofficial goods like imitation toys frequently bypass testing and regulatory standards, creating potential risks for consumers while exposing brand owners to reputational damage through association. Last year, 75% of counterfeit toys seized at UK borders contained banned chemicals or choking hazards and 46% caused serious safety issues. Meanwhile, Corsearch's consumer research revealed that 20% of US consumers have either intentionally purchased or considered purchasing fake toys, indicating that many are still unaware of the inherent dangers of these products. A further 9% purchased fake toys accidentally, highlighting their wide availability.

Seasonal demand creates predictable patterns

Although it might seem chaotic, data emerging from enforcement activity shows that dupe culture follows identifiable patterns. Corsearch's enforcement data from the toys and games sector shows that imitation activity is highly seasonal and heavily concentrated among a relatively small number of sellers.

During the final quarter of 2025 alone, enforced listings increased by 86% compared with the previous quarter, while removals rose by 87%. The figures illustrate how quickly imitation products proliferate during peak shopping periods, when demand is highest and enforcement teams face increased pressure.

The concentration of activity is also revealing. In one reporting period, just five eBay sellers were responsible for more than 10,000 enforced listings between them, showing that a small number of repeat offenders can have a disproportionate impact across online marketplaces.

For IP specialists, this type of data is useful. Rather than attempting to remove every individual listing, brands can identify the highest risk sellers, map repeat offender networks and prioritize interventions. In one example, prioritized action against repeat offenders resulted in a 91% reduction in active repeat sellers within just two months.

Intelligence-led enforcement like this allows brands to tackle the dupes that threaten their safety, reputation and brand integrity.

Traditional enforcement is no longer enough

Many brand protection programmes have historically relied on reactively identifying and removing infringing listings. However, the pace and scale of today's online environment make this increasingly difficult, particularly as many dupes sit in a legal grey area, imitating the look and feel of successful products without directly infringing protected intellectual property.

Rather than trying to remove everything, brands need to prioritise the threats that pose the greatest risk. Using data and market intelligence to identify high-risk sellers, repeat offenders and emerging patterns of activity allows teams to focus resources where they can have the greatest impact, shifting brand protection from reactive takedowns towards more targeted, proactive enforcement.

Brand protection is a business-wide responsibility

Ironically, the same technology helping to scale operations is also transforming how brands defend themselves. Artificial intelligence is increasingly enabling companies to identify visual similarities between products, detect lookalike packaging, recognize emerging trends across marketplaces and social media, and prioritize the threats most likely to damage revenue or consumer trust.

Marketing teams, however, may spot emerging trends before enforcement teams do. Also, customer service departments often receive the first complaints about poor-quality imitation products. E-commerce specialists understand where consumers are sourcing products, while legal teams provide the framework for appropriate enforcement.

Sharing information across disciplines means organizations can identify threats earlier, prioritize resources more effectively and respond before imitations gain significant traction.

Preparing for the next generation of threats

Dupe culture is unlikely to disappear, if anything, it will continue evolving as AI, social commerce and digital content creation continue to lower the barriers for dupes to reach global consumers. This means toy and games brands will increasingly depend on anticipating threats, not just reacting to them.

Technology is now changing the entire lifecycle of infringement. So, brands must continuously monitor marketplaces and social platforms, understand how trends are developing, identify repeat seller networks and then use data to prioritize enforcement activity.

The brands that stay one step ahead won't be the ones taking down the most listings, they will be those that identify risk earlier by embracing data-driven brand protection, use AI to improve visibility across digital channels and foster collaboration between legal, technology, marketing and commercial teams. By acting quickly, these brands can limit consumer exposure and address threats before they have the opportunity to scale.