...This is either funny or sad I can't decide.

[Rodrigo Girao]

Read Against Intellectual Monopoly [http://www.dklevine.com/general/intellectual/againstfinal.htm], by Michele Boldrin and David K. Levine, to find why the very concept of copyright is a scam.

 

[LavaLampBamboo]

Wait, hang, did I just watch an anti-piracy thing, or was that the origin story of the world's most pointless superhero?

 

[Zhukov]

PhhttHAHAHAHAHAHAhahaahaaaaa...

Ah man.

It should end with, "Don't buy counterfeits, use torrents instead! 100% child labour and gang violence free!

 

[Hoplon]

What I want to know is who the hell buys physical copies of pirated shit? Sure, I can understand giving your mate a few (insert currency here) for the inconvenience of burning some stuff for you instead of you downloading it yourself, but come on...

Are there really streetvendors anywhere selling physical copies of pirated/stolen IP, be it music or video? Are there really people spending money on that?

Tell you what, video industry: When you stop punishing me for buying your movies with infinite amounts of unskippable advertisements and PSAs and stuffing trailers in before I even get to the bloody menu, THEN I will stop downloading HD versions of whatever Bluray/DvD I've got unopened on the shelf.

I have to say, I did like... err.. I think it was a british publisher's DvD introduction though. It was just a voice over going "By purchasing this DvD, you're supporting your local film industry. Thank you!" as the letters appeared on-screen. It was quick, non-intrusive and it actually felt rather good to be appreciated as a customer rather than punished for buying it.

I'll just nip back to tesco and check... yup still some illegals selling shitty cams of films there... oh here come the police to try to arrest them and they leg it, should be a week without them showing up here!

 

[witheringsanity]

remember guys, don't buy counterfeit clothing cause it's all made by poor foreign children in terrible sweat shops!

instead buy name brand items only, like nike! oh wait. umm... gap! oh, wait, no... er... appl-no... martha stewe-no....

umm... shit. make your own clothes, i guess

 

[KingofallCosmos]

Oh my lord. You guys! The British Government and the BBFC have been pulling this shit for years, recently they changed tac and tried this:
It ran for about 6 months before it got pulled for being laughable garbage.

Edit: Oh smeg I can't get embedding to work, here's a hyperlink
http://youtu.be/4TbqBPmInjQ

just type youtube= and only the code

 

[The Funslinger]

That was pretty awful.
Reminded me of this picture somehow.

I'll top that:

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

.....Umm.....What? Seriously? How did they think this ad would be taken seriously? ....*sigh*

...Also, who the hell BUYS pirated/fake/copied DVDs and stuff anymore? Doesn't everyone who pirates stuff just do so via downloading nowadays? Which...you know...CAN'T fund crime because it doesn't involve money?

Seriously, the industry has no freakin clue...

You want a good ad campaign against pirating? Then make THIS an ad:

Random guy near furnace: Piracy of entertainment goods is on the rise. You probably don't care. Well, you should, and here's why. This means less people are buying those products, which means the guys making it are making less money that they can spend on making MORE of it.

If this keeps up, they may eventually not be ABLE to make more of those products you like. *holds up a DVD of batman* That next batman movie? *throws into furnace* Not gonna happen. That shiny new FPS you're looking forward to? *throws in furnace* Cancelled. That bizarre and risky game that's yet to be announced, the one that will redefine gaming forever and be the most awesome game in history? *throws it in* Never gets made. So please remember, when you pirate stuff, you hurt the industry that you love. Just remember that.

That would be a LOT more effective, IMO.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

I'm not sure how to properly respond to a video of such a high caliber of stupidity. Pretty much everything in that video is wrong, and I think it's disgusting that the taxpayer's money was used to create such an abomination of blundering deceit.

But it was just a few dollars.

OT: That has to be the worst scaremongering piece of shit I have ever seen. Child labour funded by some guy who's selling pirated DVDs to make a living. What stupid **** thought this would make a good campaign?

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvQFnSnhg7U

This is a new ad against piracy made with us tax dollars.

It's fucking hilarious and sad at the same time, you should watch it.

Wow. I can agree with the sad bit, but I fail to see the hilarious fun bit. This thing probably cost an undeserving boatload of money to make. How is Mc Gruff the Crime Dog sponsored, and where can I get some proper digits on the costs of this operation?

I agree that piracy - in general - must be negatively affecting sales to some extent. However, as of late, I am quite certain that the industry itself does a far better job at alienating whatever customer base available by damaging their sales by either going for very roundabout ways, losing customer sympathy and trust by acting like the mafia of old or refusing to listen to human beings ("customers") in favour of throwing money at data aggregation, marketing quacks and other rather expensive experts that tend to know absolutely nothing about you or me, the industry they attached themselves to like ticks or life in general. It's all become a machinery of silliness.

Although I'd like to believe this video is not much more than a student effort (shot at an appropriately low budget), I fear this video is just one pus-filled pimple, a symptom of the bigger issues at hand. The industry (generalized, I know) doesn't have a clue about where we're headed, and they now try everything from root-kit approaches (Sony tried that and is still recovering from the backlash) to ponzi schemes. Yes, there's a whole lot of money to be made, but ever since Apple managed to even make iHating me get an iTunes iAccount to iConveniently iSatisfy some of my less obscure cravings, I think we all know that there are ways to make a buck we all can agree to, and then there's, say, Origin. They're integrating my existing account into Origin, and I can tell you this: The moment EA forces me to load their ersatz Steam, I will want to stay away from them for good. Yes, I have Steam. No, I don't want it running 24/7 on my machines. No, I don't fancy building a specific gaming rig that can run all available game downloading "community" network tools. I'm glad the times of "Starforce" and other odd drivers with their peculiar habits and hiccups seems to be over, but enforced online checkpoint charlies don't quite feel right with me.

I agree that drug dealing is bad. I have no issue with the statement that child labour is bad. Yes, I think product piracy from China, Turkey, or wherever they make that poisonous, filthy crap, is bad. I think it's a problem that tons of pirated or fake goods (more thinking of clothes, branded handbags and leather goods, watches, etc.) are clogging up our customs and ports. Those are all real issues. But this video sums things up in a "one video fits all" sort of carelessness that just plain does not make me feel good about any of this.

If customer awareness is your goal, going for a Gone With the Wind meets the Godfather drama approach doesn't enlighten or impress people, it bores the sweat out of their buttcracks. KISS should be your mantra when trying to teach people to do the right thing, and this video mainly just ends up annoying and confusing me... Dear Mc Gruff and fellow Good Guys: where does gun violence and drug dealing come into, well that DVD piracy microcosm you started out with? I don't get it.

 

[WarDialler]

Cheers King!

 

[NightHawk21]

actually an add saying 'this is what happens to the movie industry when you illegally pirate movies' would have been more effective and less depressing.

Yes we could show the big movie execs and them crying over how they only have 15 expensive sport cars and 3 pools instead of 16 sports cars and another pool.

As for the OT, the add is pretty funny, but flawed on a lot of levels. The funny thing is piracy doesn't even have that large of an effect, companies have much better ways of dealing with it than asking the government to make these ads.

 

[Cr33dl0rd]

The like bar is pretty funny.

 

[Something Amyss]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvQFnSnhg7U

This is a new ad against piracy made with us tax dollars.

It's fucking hilarious and sad at the same time, you should watch it.

Are you kidding? Do you know how many third world children it takes to sew a counterfit DVD?

YOU MONSTERS!!!!

 

[AndromedA xx]

Pretty sure when i get a pirated movie it has nothing to do with child labor or gang violence, its just from a friend who gets it online...

 

[Something Amyss]

You want a good ad campaign against pirating? Then make THIS an ad:

Random guy near furnace: Piracy of entertainment goods is on the rise. You probably don't care. Well, you should, and here's why. This means less people are buying those products, which means the guys making it are making less money that they can spend on making MORE of it.

If this keeps up, they may eventually not be ABLE to make more of those products you like. *holds up a DVD of batman* That next batman movie? *throws into furnace* Not gonna happen. That shiny new FPS you're looking forward to? *throws in furnace* Cancelled. That bizarre and risky game that's yet to be announced, the one that will redefine gaming forever and be the most awesome game in history? *throws it in* Never gets made. So please remember, when you pirate stuff, you hurt the industry that you love. Just remember that.

That would be a LOT more effective, IMO.

Except that's not going to happen, and people are pretty shrewd. They're going to go for this like those anti-drug ads which tell you smoking pot leads to driving over a kid when getting drive-thru. That is to say, not at all.

Honestly, what's so hard about the honest approach? "We don't like it when you enjoy our products without paying." No empty claims about drugs or not making the next movie, no hokey comparisons theft, not invocation of the Dark Lord, etc.

 

[Rude as HECK]

It's not appropriate for government/public money to be used to either inform of, or prevent, IP infringements. By and large (that is, excluding the more massive cases), it is a tort- an issue for private law, and thus of private enforcement. This is why your regular copyright infringement is not a crime.

TL;DR Hollywood can pay for this shit, not taxpayers.

 

[FamoFunk]

I like the like and dislike bar.

Over reacting video is over reacting.

 

[brunothepig]

Noted. I will not buy counterfeits. I will download the product directly!Kidding! Please don't hit me mods.
I'm trying to think back to a piracy/bootleg advert that wasn't really bad, and hilariously over the top... I'm drawing a blank.