LogFAQs > #928328855

91. Anti-Piracy Advert (11 points)
Nominated by: GavsEvans123 (4/5 remaining)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnLVyNB52R8" data-time="

Importance: 3
Fear: 3
Snake: 5

This advert definitely feels like it descends from a proud family of PSAs dealing with drugs, smoking, and other harmful things that is overly dramatic and unnecessarily frightening. First of all, it seems like they dragged the first guy they saw into the studio to film this. To his credit, he looks appropriately menacing for the tone they are building up, with the fire burning in his eyes like some crazed copyright comic villain, albeit one that only appears for a handful of issues before much later returning only to be taken out by the Tally Man. Claims like "piracy funds organized crime" and "piracy funds terrorism" are pretty quick laugh-out-loud moments to me though, and I don't really know how an X-branding stick creates that much of an explosion on that stack of poor movies and CDs. Lastly, he seems to actually have a heel turn at the end by turning his "X" into a "C" copyright symbol, and will now use his explosive branding powers to fight piracy...? Alrighty then.

This advert was apparently on nearly every early 2000s VHS tape in the UK, Ireland, Australia & New Zealand, and even many DVD releases at the time. Despite its tone, it clearly was not the most effective thing in the world as is the case with many other anti-piracy ads, as it's just a fangless threat with not much enforcement behind it. I do like these ads for their goofy ways of tackling huge ideas and problems, but there are also better (albeit less fun) ways of getting these messages across.
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I've decided to put my fears behind me. I'm not going back.
https://i.imgtc.ws/2Q88rI4.gif - https://i.gifer.com/E07R.gif