A fellow FM member shared with me a conversation found in a blog between a person who believes FM is a fake and a reply from an FM consumer defending FM as a company and for its quality. Read the excerpt, I found it compelling for all of you members! Enjoy!
The Atheist FM (Federico Mahora) is essentially a company producing fakes. For that purpose only, I never tried them, because the quality of such scents is always low and it is pretty much stealing other people’s ideas, and i would not try even their original fragrances since most of their business is based on reproducing cheap equivalents of known scents…
The Client: Excuse me!!!???
First of all, FM is not producing ‘fakes’. A ‘fake’ is when the fragrance, bottle, and box are made so that you think it is a real Chanel. With false control numbers, the same bottle etc.
By your own admission you said you never tried FM-fragrances and you will never try them and yet you shoot them to pieces.
Secondly, you obviously don’t know that there is an economic crisis going on in the real world. A lot of people simply can’t afford niches anymore, can’t afford the excruciatingly high and obscenely expensive prices shops ask for mainstream fragrances to funnel that hard earned cash that customers buy to the bonuses of CEO’s of perfume conglomerates and shareholders dividends.
Because the real cost of a fragrance is very low, the profit margin is very, very high for the big perfume conglomerates. The money not spent on the cost of production, we’re talking about 80 to 90% or more of the price you pay in the shop, goes to PR, CEO bonuses and shareholder dividends. FM and Avon show how less it really costs to produce a decent fragrance. And thus how much money these perfume companies really earn at your expense. Why do you think that celebs launch fragrances massively? Out of love for perfumery? No, because they can make tons of money on the hard working people’s back. It is widely known that the perfume divisions are the ‘cash cows’ of a lot of conglomerates.
Thirdly, FM fragrances are not ‘fakes’ because they are sold in simple boxes and bottles with FM on it. Each FM fragrance has a number. The seller will tell you on which number corresponds with the fragrance it is inspired by. FM sells like Avon: mostly not in shops but by direct selling at home. You have the ‘Avon Ladies’ and the ‘FM Reps’. They are very driven and knowledgeable, passionate about having encountered a company created by the people and for the people and they sell in places and part of the world where the expensive fragrances aren't even necessarily available or way over priced. That’s called ‘fair trade’. I have much more respect for an ‘Avon Lady’ or ‘FM Rep’ than for a bored, unknowledgable, grumpy shop assistant in an ‘exclusive perfume shop’ in NYC, London or Paris.
It is totally legal and legit, contrary to the ‘fakes’ sold massively everywhere. By the way, I assume you know that ‘a fragrance’ is not protected, only the name and the package. Like a taste or combination of tastes to make a certain menu can’t be protected. I can make ‘Sauce Béarnaise’ without having to pay copyrights to some celeb, CEO or shareholder, thank God. Same for fragrances. Even you can duplicate Chanel 5, if you are able to and sell it. Only not under the name ‘Chanel 5′ in the same box and bottle. And FM does none of these things. So their fragrances are not ‘fakes’, I’m sorry. It is like the fragrance oils that are ‘based upon’ a known fragrance for soap making, candles, body oils… You also find those oils ‘theft’ and the makers of it ‘thieves’? You haven’t tried FM, would never try FM and yet you execute them. Well, well…
And FM gives the opportunity to less rich people to enjoy a great fragrance with a great quality for a fair price. FM is totally legitimate and upfront about what they are: fragrances very close (in some cases even almost spot on, certainly in the more linear fruity-floral and weak aquatic categories) to the original.
They are an affordable alternative for the obscenely priced perfumes in the regular shops. They cost about about one fifth (!!!) of the fragrance by which they are inspired or that were an inspiration for their version and are really close to the original. For the ones among us who experience hard times, but still want to smell great, it is a good alternative. Owners of perfume shops, shop assistants and people working in the ‘hot air’ big perfume industry where most of the money that a fragrance cost in the shops goes to packaging, marketing, the bottle, the CEO bonuses, the shareholders dividend and the ‘brand name’ hate them, like they hate Avon.
People who buy a fragrance to parade around with a bag where ‘Chanel’ or ‘Dior’ is printed in big letters are not the target market for FM. People who love affordable fragrances in modest packaging for a fair price, mostly love them. Like many people around the world love Avon!
Of course the ‘big name firms’ do everything to put companies like FM and Avon in a bad light. But their fragrances are not bad at all. And certainly more honestly priced than the crazy overprices big name-frags in the perfumery shops. Also because FM is legit, their fragrances are controlled for harmful ingredients just as strictly as the mainstream fragrances. It is the real fakes, controlled by organised crime, that can contain harmful ingredients, not the controlled FM and Avon fragrances.
For the economic crisis, that will hit the whole of Europe and maybe also the US very hard this year (2012) and throughout the world, people will have to adapt their lifestyle. Also in fragrances. So FM, Avon and Ebay are great alternatives to the regular perfume shops, who will simply become a ghetto for the wealthy and rich.
The big companies try to tarnish FM as much as they can. By spreading bad information on line. The big firms try to eliminate this competition in all manner.
So, maybe you can afford to pay hundreds of dollars for a bottle of fragrance. But I wouldn’t deny people less fortunate to smell good. And FM, I repeat, is a total legit bizz. Do you also put Avon down and Lidl’s version of ‘Coco Mademoiselle’?
Also I find it strange, when somebody hasn't tried a fragrance to shoot those fragrances down. And even say: ‘I would never try them’. I have tried FM’s and they are pretty damn good. And I am also a lover of Lutens and the big firms. But I also can appreciate FM’s line of products. You have different target markets for different budget. To tarnish firms that cater to the not so rich as ‘fakes is well… fill this in for yourself. But it is certainly not moral and ethical and just.
But the real fakes, that are by the way now even sold in regular perfume shops by shop managers on the brink of bankruptcy -I experienced it myself- have to be fought at all cost. They are totally uncontrolled, have possibly harmful ingredients and are produced propably by organised crime. FM and Avon are totally legitimate business, as are sellers of soap supplies. You blast the wrong enemies here.
What guarantees do you have when you enter a perfume shop that you are buying an original? There is a huge black market of fakes going around with identical packaging and bottles, smells similar but ingredients are harmful. Beware that this is happening even when you are buying these at a high price!
Avon and FM are excellent ‘bang for your buck’. Of course, if you don’t have to care about money, this argument doesn’t mean anything to you. But it means a lot for people who happen to have a tighter budget.
Rich people denying less fortunate people the right to enjoy a total legitimate fragrance of FM, that’s the spirit! And not having ever tried them and judge, well that defies every rule of objectivity and credibility in my book.
For the record, I have nothing whatsoever to do with the FM-company or Avon, or any other fragrance company. I’m just a perfume lover who happens to know a bit about the inner workings of the perfume biz. But as a perfume lover, I think that also people who have less money should get the opportunity to enjoy a fragrance. And I’d rather see them being able to do that, than not being able to do that simply because the big perfume firms want to destroy these competition to pay their CEO’s higher bonuses and shareholder dividends.
My sympathy lies with the perfume lover on a tight budget, not on the ‘big firms’ who should by the way battle more against the real fakes, instead of villifying, totally unfounded, companies like FM, Avon, Lidl… for letting us see how cheap good frags can really be produced. But of course it is easier to attack a legit bizz like FM than go after strong and cruel organised crime rings.
I have said my two cents. Have a great life and a word of encouragement to all those people who already face economic hardship and who will face even more in 2012 and in the following year 2013!
Be informed, learn about FM, don’t be scammed by the brands approach to the market but most importantly DO NOT buy these “Class A ~ Fake perfumes” as their ingredients are NOT tested and can be harmful. Learn the benefits of becoming a proud FM member!
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