August 16, 2007
Piracy Ads: Give Us A Break
OK — I admit it. I’m hypersensitive when it comes to ads. I tend to overreact. Even more so when I’ve seen a particular ad far too many times. Add to this a lack of humour, purpose, and understanding for intended audience and you have me shaking like a benzedrine addict gone cold turkey.
What I’m talking about, of course, are those moronic ads forced upon us courtesy of the global anti-piracy squad. Yes, we get it. We should not “steal” movies, just like we should not steal cars, or knife each other in the back.
What other manufacturers release a product with such silly warnings every time you use it? Start your car? You’d have to listen to this:
You must not drive this vehicle faster than the legal speed limit set by your local government and enforced by your local police department. You must not alter this vehicle in ways that do not comply with local legislation. You must not operate this vehicle under the influence of mind altering substances, other than those prescribed by your doctor. You must not use this vehicle for illegal purposes, such as armed robbery, drag racing, drug dealing, transporting more than 342 chickens…
Please comply with fore-mentioned rules and regulations to start the vehicle, and remember to drive safely.
C’mon… my wife is due any moment now—start the car already!
I can empathize with the difficult position Hollywood is in: it is seeing a long running multi billion dollar virtual monopoly potentially disappear like snow under the sun. But surely this is the wrong way to approach the issue. It lacks original thought (just like many of its products), shows little class (just like…) and has a very predictable ending(…).
This Hollywood knee-jerk reaction to a changing world seems rather silly when you take into consideration that the town has been run down by corporate giants:
It’s only in relatively recent years that Hollywood became the playground of multinational corporations which regard movies and TV shows as a minor irritant to their overall activity.
Peter Bart, editor in chief of Variety
A lot of people are getting seriously crapped off; it appears movie moguls are shitting in the corner while entertaining guests (and while some guests might be entertained, most wouldn’t be). This sort of behaviour makes little business sense: don’t bedevil your customers! Dare I say, more people will move towards downloading/copying movies that do not include these messages?
Now, can we get back to enjoying our movies again? If the industry insists on includig these messages, at least give us back our control: don’t freeze our remotes during these messages. Please? Give us a break…