During some free time at work today, I decided to pull a classic one out of Youtube, and I watched “Don’t Copy That Floppy,” a classic 1992 anti-piracy…I don’t want to call it an advertisement, so I’ll just say “thing,” as it doesn’t really deserve much more of a title than that.
What I find interesting about this video (aside from the usual “what’s a floppy?” reaction) is the stark contrast to today’s anti-piracy media. While “Don’t Copy” is cheeky, fun, and very tongue-in-cheek (I think the “rapper” in this video is about as effective as Steve Ballmer selling Windows 1.0), the 21st Century Pirate is depicted as older, more sophisticated, and inherently criminal.
While I could go on for about the absurdist, asinine comparison of BitTorrent users to car thieves, as well as the ethos of BitTorrent and “downloading,” I’ll save it. It’s the same idea in both ads, although the context of each sends a very different message.
Ad #1 takes us on a PBS-que kids show adventure through the magical land of computer piracy, while Ad #2 takes the innocent, game-playing children from the first ad and gainfully turns them into felons. There’s no logical explanation, either, no “why” or “how” or “here’s what happens when you download a song from the Internet;” it slams you into the wall by your shirt collar, and says “If you download that Simple Plan song, I swear to God, you’re going straight to Federal prison.” If nothing else, I have to question the credibility of the organization which tells, instead of explains, in a grotesquely Orwellian fashion.
The first ad, by contrast, at least tried to set the record straight.
The revelation to me is that the “War on Piracy” is really only as bad as whatever XXAA dictates it is. From what I understand about the statistics of sales of software, music, and films, the impact of piracy on the entertainment industry has been negligible.
In a lot of ways, I think the industry benefits. The price of CDs has fallen significantly over the past couple of years, which means I’m going to go out and buy the CD (which I usually do anyway) instead of pirate it. I don’t mind spending $10-$13 on a band I think is worth paying for.
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