In recent years, with the continuous development of the product packaging market, customers' requirements for anti-counterfeiting labels have also increased, and more and more anti-counterfeiting technologies have been applied to self-adhesive labels. As customers increasingly demand anti-counterfeiting technology, we often see several different anti-counterfeiting technologies being applied together on the outer packaging of the same product. In this article, the author has organized some common anti-counterfeiting technologies applied to self-adhesive labels for everyone, hoping to provide some ideas for printing enterprises who want to produce anti-counterfeiting labels.

Ink anti-counterfeiting

1. Light variable ink

The so-called light changing ink refers to a special type of ink that appears in different colors from different angles after printing, such as purple to green, yellow to green, etc. This ink contains special photoresist additives that can reflect different light at different angles, resulting in different colors. The most common one is the photoresist ink used on RMB. The production cost of this type of ink is relatively high, and there are fewer manufacturers capable of producing it. Once users sign a confidentiality agreement with the manufacturer, it is difficult for other users to imitate. Therefore, the anti-counterfeiting performance of photoresist ink is good. It should be noted that in order to achieve good photoresist effect, photoresist ink must have a certain thickness, so screen printing is generally used for printing.

2. Invisible ink

Invisible ink refers to a special type of ink that is colorless under normal light conditions and develops color under specific light conditions (such as ultraviolet). At present, there are three common invisible inks on the market: ultraviolet, infrared, and dual band ultraviolet, with the main colors displayed being red, yellow, blue, and green. This type of ink is particularly suitable for printing secret notes. Those who do not know it cannot directly see it with the naked eye. When it is necessary to distinguish the authenticity, use corresponding light to illuminate the secret note area, and the font or pattern will appear. There are invisible ink printed patterns on the RMB. However, the production cost of this type of ink is relatively low and there are many manufacturers involved. If only this method is used for anti-counterfeiting, it is often easy to be copied. Therefore, special fonts or patterns need to be combined to improve the difficulty of copying.

Material anti-counterfeiting

1. Fragile materials

The surface strength and tear resistance of fragile materials are relatively low, and once the printed label is affixed to the surface of the object, it cannot be completely removed. Therefore, this material is often used as a sealing label to prevent someone from opening the box to replace the goods inside, and also to prevent packaging from being recycled and reused by counterfeiters.

2. Font anti-counterfeiting

Typeface anti-counterfeiting, also known as sticking open and leaving characters, is a material that has undergone special processing during processing and can be made into corresponding text according to customer requirements. Common text such as "label has been removed". The self-adhesive label processed with this material is also commonly used as a sealing label for packaging boxes. Once the label is opened, the words "label has been opened" will be left at the area where the label is opened, and the adhesive layer of the label will also be damaged and cannot be restored. This can prevent the packaging from being recycled again, and can also prompt the user whether the product has been opened before.

3. Laser font anti-counterfeiting

Laser font anti-counterfeiting is an upgraded version of font anti-counterfeiting. This material is used to create special laser patterns on the surface of the material during processing, such as a person's portrait or a product's trademark. When the label is opened, the pattern will remain in the opened position to form a laser pattern, and the label will also be damaged, playing a anti-counterfeiting effect of preventing the packaging box from being recycled again. Due to the fact that this laser pattern is usually customized and uses engraved plates, the cost of plate making is high (usually ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands). If users and material manufacturers sign confidentiality agreements, the pattern of this engraved plate is difficult to fully replicate. Therefore, laser type anti-counterfeiting is better than traditional type .

Printing anti-counterfeiting

1. Cryptography anti-counterfeiting and anti-counterfeiting wire technology

When printing, a computer can be used to create some small text or patterns, and then these small text or patterns can be embedded into larger patterns. This makes these small text or patterns difficult to detect, thus forming a secret anti-counterfeiting effect. When it is necessary to distinguish the authenticity of a product, a magnifying glass can be used to observe the existence of a secret mark, in order to distinguish the authenticity of the product. This type of secret record has strong confidentiality in anti-counterfeiting, but if everyone knows where there is a secret record, it will not have the desired anti-counterfeiting effect. Therefore, it was often used internally by manufacturers for authenticity identification, and the significance for consumers to distinguish the authenticity of products was not significant. In recent years, with the continuous development of printing technology and plate making technology, anti-counterfeiting line technology has emerged, similar to some patterns printed on RMB, which are generated using special software. Without such software, it is difficult to fully imitate them. At the same time, due to the complexity of the patterns, if the imitation is not good, moire patterns will appear during printing, while genuine printed patterns do not exhibit this phenomenon. Therefore, in the past, this anti-counterfeiting wire technology was commonly used for banknote anti-counterfeiting, but now it is also commonly used for self-adhesive label anti-counterfeiting.

2. Die cutting anti-counterfeiting

Die-cutting anti-counterfeiting is relatively simple, that is, adding a flower knife pattern to the die-cutting knife to make the surface of the die-cut label have many irregular flower knife cuts. Once this type of label is affixed to the object, it is difficult to fully remove it because the flower knife on the label makes it easier to break. This anti-counterfeiting method is a "variant" of fragile materials, with relatively simple craftsmanship and easy imitation, unless efforts are made in the design of flower knife patterns to make them less easily imitated. The advantage of die cutting anti-counterfeiting is that it is relatively cheap and almost does not increase the additional cost of labeling. It is more suitable for anti-counterfeiting products with low cost requirements and low anti-counterfeiting requirements.

RFID anti-counterfeiting

Currently, more and more RFID tags are being applied to some high-end products, with the aim of highlighting the product's level and anti-counterfeiting effect. Insert a chip into the label, which can not only write the corresponding performance data of the product, but also indicate the authenticity of the product. As long as the customer's phone has the function of reading RFID, it can easily identify the authenticity of the product. At present, RFID anti-counterfeiting is one of the good anti-counterfeiting methods. If RFID technology can be widely applied in the field of labeling in the future, it will provide strong support for the comprehensive popularization of smart supermarkets.

Digital anti-counterfeiting

1. Database anti-counterfeiting

Database anti-counterfeiting refers to a anti-counterfeiting technology in which self-adhesive label printing enterprises cooperate with anti-counterfeiting companies to print special variable numbers during printing. Consumers can know the authenticity of the product by inputting these numbers online or querying them over the phone after purchasing the product. Due to the significant investment in databases and the high cost of counterfeiting, the effectiveness of database anti-counterfeiting is very good. At present, many products, especially high-end tobacco and alcohol products, have adopted database anti-counterfeiting measures.

2. Digital printing (adhesive QR code, variable number)

In recent years, digital printing technology has been widely used in the field of self-adhesive labels, and some self-adhesive label printing companies have provided digital anti-counterfeiting solutions for alcohol product labels. The specific method is to perform local glue removal on the adhesive surface of the self-adhesive material, and print a variable QR code or variable number on the position of the glue removal. These QR codes and numbers carry a lot of information, which can prevent dealers from colluding and improve anti-counterfeiting performance by connecting to databases. Previously, customers needed to input numbers online or over the phone to know the authenticity of the product. Now, just scanning the code with their mobile phone can easily distinguish the authenticity of the product.

The above-mentioned anti-counterfeiting technologies are currently commonly used in the field of self-adhesive labels. In order to achieve better anti-counterfeiting effects, many products in daily production use two or more anti-counterfeiting technologies for anti-counterfeiting. For example, some high-end alcohol products have several anti-counterfeiting technologies on the labels on the boxes and bottles. The purpose of doing so is to increase the cost of counterfeiting, increase the difficulty of counterfeiting, and achieve better anti-counterfeiting effects.