GTP, West African leading wax print and textiles manufacturer to prevent the counterfeiting and smuggling of registered designs of Ghanian textile manufacturing companies has called on government to put in place more stringent measures. GTP in a bid to deal with the matter has launched the GTP “Oga” which stands for original, genuine, authentic is a consumer promotion to reward its loyal consumers.

According to the MD of GTP, Kofi Boateng in the past, counterfeiters simply stole GTP designs and placed their own labels on them but now they duplicate designs, labels and other trademark properties.

Managing Director of GTP Kofi Boateng said that the activities of the counterfeiters is causing the nation to lose significant revenue for which GTP has come out with the Original, Genuine, Authentic ‘Oga’ promotion to help customers know if the GTP they bought are original or counterfeit.

As part of the GTP Oga consumer promotion consumers can instantly authenticate GTP fabrics they purchase by texting the 12-digit unique security code found under a scratch panel on each product’s label to free short message service short code 1393 on Vodafone, MTN, Tigo and Airtel. In all over 6,000 loyal consumers will be rewarded with smart phones, airtime and GTP Fabrics.

Mr. Boateng said that there is nothing more annoying than paying good money for what you believe to be genuine, authentic GTP African wax print, only to discover some time later that you’ve actually got a fake. The cloth you have bought is neither an original GTP design nor made in Ghana. In fact, it is not even African at all, and the design has already began to fade after only a few washes.

The promotion is running on the mPedigree platform, a global leader in the use of web and mobile technology to protect brand-authenticity on manufactured goods.

Mr. Boateng further said that the cost is quite enormous every sale that is supposed to be GTP, that is not, they lose some income and government also loses some taxes in terms of VAT and income taxes as well due to counterfeiting and smuggling. So it is not only a cost to GTP but is also a cost to the nation because they are not able to produce and sell more and employ more people, their employment opportunities are reduced means less people are employed, less income tax to the government.