GB
If you’ve been online lately, you may have seen the drama unfolding around a viral Dubai chocolate and the number of other bars that have been popping up imitating it. Whether you saw it on TikTok, the BBC, or in the snack aisle, the copycat packaging conversation has been bubbling recently and it’s not just about sweet treats.
At Founders Law and Stobbs, we’ve been thinking a lot about this. Because while the chocolate might be trending now, lookalike packaging has been eating into brand equity across industries for years, and it’s getting more serious.
They’re not quite counterfeit products, but they’re close.
While a counterfeit is a direct, criminal attempt to trick consumers by copying a product exactly, a lookalike product stops just short mimicking everything from colour and shape to packaging and shelf presence, without copying the brand name itself.
Lookalikes are often brushed off as “just clever marketing” because they don’t outright confuse consumers, but brand owners know the truth: lookalike products take unfair advantage of brand equity that companies have spent years (and millions) building. And the law agrees with them. But here’s the twist: consumer confusion isn’t the point. Influence is.
Research from the behavioural science experts at ‘Influence at Work’ have shown just how powerful visual cues are when we shop. Most decisions are made quickly, under pressure, and in busy, distracting environments like supermarkets.
Consumers often rely on fast, automatic thinking (aka “System 1”). That means they’re prioritising things like:
🔸 Colour
🔸 Shape
🔸 Brand imagery
🔸 Flavour signals
🔸 And only then… the name of the product
So, when a supermarket creates a private-label lookalike, even if the name is different, they’re still piggybacking on the original brand’s visual identity and trade dress, not to mention often years of marketing investment and product innovation.
That has real consequences for brand protection and consumer perception.
The specialist brand valuation firm, Valuation Consulting, derived a real-world case-study of the impact of lookalikes.
Imagine a soft drink brand generating £60m a year in UK sales. After a lookalike product enters the market, the brand sees:
🔹A £28m revenue drop over six years
🔹£3.5m in extra costs, just to fight back from rebranding and packaging redesigns to reinforcing brand distinctiveness
🔹An 18% reduction in brand value
So not only are lookalike products reducing sales they’re forcing brands to spend more to protect, redesign, or even reintroduce themselves to consumers.
You’re not powerless there are ways to protect your brand from lookalikes.
There’s along-standing misconception that nothing can be done about lookalikes or copycat packaging. That it’s just the price of success. But that’s no longer true.
There are legal tools available and increasingly, courts are recognising that lookalikes constitute unfair competition and intellectual property infringement. The key is taking the right approach based on your business goals, appetite for action, and the level of commercial threat you’re facing.
Start by getting clear on your objectives:
▪️Do you want to stop the lookalike product?
▪️Are you seeking compensation for lost revenue?
▪️Or do you want to quietly shift consumer perception back to your original?
Whatever your goal, you’ll need a clear brand protection strategy and the right team to back it. That’s where Founders Law and our friends at Stobbs come in. Together, we make sure clients have the right legal foundations and help clients build smart, protective strategies from early intervention to legal action against copycats tailored to your business.
Need a hand with your brand? Get in touch hello@founders-law.co.uk
