You Wouldn't Steal a Car
You Wouldn't Steal a Car is the first sentence of a public service announcement (PSA) which is part of an anti-piracy campaign “Piracy. It's a crime.” The PSA was created by Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in cooperation with Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS)[1] in 2004[2] and appeared on many commercial DVDs as an unskippable warning before a movie. It shows a man stealing various things, and its message is that these crimes are comparable with downloading or buying a pirated film.[3][4]
Plot[edit]
In the starting, the viewer can see:
- a teenage girl, who is going to download a movie illegally onto her computer, or
- a group whose members are going to select a pirated movie from the supply of an illegal street vendor.
After that, the sentence “YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A CAR” appears on the screen (the common name of the PSA comes from here), and after that a man getting into a vehicle is visible. On the next scene, the viewer can read the text “YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A HANDBAG” and see the same man taking a purse which is hanging from the back of a chair.
The content of the following pictures can be one of these:
- the words “YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A TELEVISION” and the negative character taking over a TV from a window, or
- the sentence “YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A MOBILE PHONE” and a hand getting one from a table.
The next scene contains the text “YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A MOVIE” and the man who is hiding a DVD under his leather jacket.
For a few seconds, the viewer can see the previous crimes in reverse. After that, these words can be visible depanding on the starting:
- “DOWNLOADING”/“PIRATED”/“FILMS”/“IS STEALING” (if the downloading girl was acting in the beginning), or
- “MOVIE”/“PIRACY”/“IS STEALING” (if the illegal street shop was in the starting).
In the next pictures, the viewer can see the girl or the group and the text “STEALING”/“IS AGAINST”/“THE LAW”. Finally,
- the girl cancels the download and leaves the room, or
- the group refuses pirated DVDs,
the sentences “PIRACY. IT'S A CRIME.” appear, and the sound of a closing door is audible.
References[edit]
- ^ "Be HIP at the Movies". Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. July 27, 2004. Archived from the original on September 24, 2008. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
- ^ Finlo Rohrer (June 18, 2009). "Getting inside a downloader's head". BBC. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
- ^ Sophia Harris (March 28, 2017). "Netflix's anti-piracy team aims to make stealing content uncool - Business - CBC News". Cbc.ca. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
- ^ Poon, Christopher. "'You wouldn't steal a car,' but I'd download one | Dot Comrade | Pique Newsmagazine | Whistler, CANADA". Pique Newsmagazine. Retrieved July 6, 2017.
