Plastic trees, artificial flowers, pirated DVDs, imitation handbags, replica branded watches, counterfeit jewelry, artificial fireplace, phony American accent, implants, plagiarism, exaggerated ads .... and you can add on to this list. E.R. Beadle once said, "Half of the work that is done in this world is to make things appear what they are not." .
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When we were in New Orleans, my wife and I only wanted to try the Central Grocery's muffuletta ... even though extra effort was needed to track down the store, despite that there were many other stores in town selling the same bread, and at a cheaper price too. Why?
Humanity seeks out the real thing... authentic, genuine, bona fide! Meaning "being actually and exactly what is claimed," or in computing term, wswyg - You see what you get. In the dictionary, authentic implies being fully trustworthy as according with fact, such as an authentic account of a journey. Genuine implies actual character not counterfeited, imitated, or adulterated. It also connotes definite origin from a source, eg. genuine maple syrup. Bona fide implies good faith and sincerity of intention.
The sign outside the Central Grocery store reminded me of an incident several years back - A friend gave me a "Mont Blanc' pen as a souvenir from his visit to China. It looks like the real stuff, but somehow it didn't feel right (too light). And guess what? The pen konked out after a few days. It is no wonder we doubt the quality of imitation goods!
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It is not easy to distinguish between real and fake stuff.
- A best selling book, "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking" by Malcolm Gladwell opens with what reads like a detective story about the discovery of a statue that initially fooled one group of art experts for being genuine and was later shown to be a fake by another group. The first group had exhaustively studied and analyzed the statue. Members of the second took one look—"blinked" (I call it intuition!) — and declared it suspect and ultimately a forgery. And they were right (ref: wikipedia).
- Go to a newly renovated hawker center in Singapore, say the one at Bt.Timah where there used to be a stall famous for its carrot cake. After the renovation, every other stalls in the center that sell carrot cake carry a sign claiming to be the original one!
There is a warning in the bible! 
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.” – Matt 7:15-16.
False prophets and teachers were common in the Bible times. To gain favor and popularity, they prophesied only what the king and the people wanted to hear, claiming it was God’s message. False teachers are just as common today. Christians are to beware of those whose words sound religious but who are motivated by money, fame, or power.
We are exhorted to evaluate teachers’ words by examining their lives. Just as trees are consistent in the kind of fruit they produce, good teachers consistently exhibit good behavior and high moral character. In the context of Christian teachings, you can recognize who they are because in their teaching they minimize Christ and glorify themselves (LAB, 1653).
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How to be genuine? The first step is removing our mask. Stop the masquerade, “This above all — to thine own self be true” (Shakespeare). Whilst authenticity is easy to talk about, it not so easy to do in real life. Nevertheless, Mother Theresa once said,
"Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway".
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Lastly, "no one ever become great by imitation!".
