Ignorant NYC campaign shows the dark side of an ignorant NYC campaign

New York City, long a place where counterfeit watches and fake designer handbags are sold on street corners, is unveiling an ad campaign warning consumers of the human cost of indulging in knockoffs.

The city will display 50 black, yellow and red posters in tourist spots like Times Square and Chinatown over the next two months with the message, "The Real Price of Counterfeit Goods."

"When you buy counterfeit goods, you support child labour, drug trafficking, organised crime and even worse," one version reads. Another says that buyers have cost the city $US1 billion ($A1.07 billion) per year in lost tax revenue.

The money could have funded "10,000 new cops, 10,000 new firefighters, 10,000 new teachers," Deputy New York City Mayor Edward Skyler said.

The United States says China is the No.1 offender when it comes to counterfeit goods. Others include South Korea, Pakistan and India.

The campaign, which starts on Monday, estimates the global trade in counterfeit goods at $US650 billion ($A692.45 billion) per year including $US80 billion ($A85.22 billion) in New York City alone.

US authorities have said one group sells counterfeit goods including fake Viagra to support the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which Washington lists as a terrorist organisation.

The group behind the 2004 train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people was partly funded by the sale of illegal compact discs, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said.

"Do American consumers want their hard-earned money to support terrorism? Or child labour? Or drug trafficking?" Harper's Bazaar magazine, a co-sponsor of the campaign, said in a statement.

"As frightening as it may seem, that is exactly what is happening whenever a counterfeit DVD, handbag or any other product is knowingly purchased," the fashion publication said.

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