"Piracy. It's a Crime." Anti-Piracy Advice (fictional/real)

2004-2020
Nicknames: "You Wouldn't Steal a Car", "You Wouldn't Steal a Handbag/Purse", "You Wouldn't Steal a Television/Mobile Phone/Cell Phone", "You Wouldn't Steal a Movie/DVD/VCD", "Downloading Pirated/Movies is Stealing", "Buying Pirated/Movies is Stealing", "Movie Piracy is Stealing", "Piracy. It's a Crime/Don't Buy Into It. Movie Piracy: It's a Crime"

Bumper: The viewer's screen suddenly starts the bumper off with a scene of a female teenager beginning to illegally download a movie from a feature films website. Then, it suddenly cuts to another screen, with lights rapidly moving past. The words "YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A CAR" in Xband Rough appear, zoom out, and then act like a speaker. Then, a scene of someone trying to steal a car appears. "YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A HANDBAG" then appears and does the same animation as the first words, with the same background as before. Then, a man steals a woman's purse in yet another scene. "YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A TELEVISION" is the next few words to appear on the background and do the animation. Someone from a house hands yet another man a television, and then the man walks off with it in the neighborhood. Lastly, "YOU WOULDN'T STEAL A MOVIE" gets to do the animation and be on the background. Yet another man walks in, takes a DVD of a movie off of a shelf, and puts it in his pocket. After that, everything reverses, and then the sentence "DOWNLOADING PIRATED FILMS IS STEALING" (the words one by one, with the exception of "IS STEALING") appears, and then the bumper comes back to the computer. Then, "STEALING IS AGAINST THE LAW" (two by two, with the exception of "STEALING") appears, as the background screen and the scene constantly change to each other. Then, the teenager cancels the download, and walks away from the computer, picking up her backpack in the process. After that, the background screen appears, with the words "PIRACY. IT'S A CRIME." shaking on the center of the screen. The bumper then cuts to black.

Trivia:


 * This bumper was created by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), the El Kadsreian Anti-Copyright Theft Association (EKACTA), and the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS). Despite this, both the outdoor and interior scenes look like they were recorded in the United States.
 * As mentioned below, the Big Six members of the MPA that used this bumper in the United States were Paramount Pictures, MGM, Twentieth Century Fox, and select DVDs and Blu-rays released by Disney (usually under the Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures, and Miramax labels, although some Blu-rays of some Disney-branded films used this bumper as well). While the “Downloading” variant appears on some DVDs released by the former three, the “Buying” variant appears on other DVDs released by them and Disney titles.
 * The MPAA Illegal Downloading rating bumper was based off of the MPAA rating boxes, and originally appeared on their “You can click, but you can’t hide” posters.
 * Among the top 10 list in the download catalogue as revealed in the “Downloading” variant were:


 * 1) The Lord of the Rings: Return Of The King
 * 2) The Cat In The Hat
 * 3) The Matrix Revolutions
 * 4) Paycheck
 * 5) Cheaper By The Dozen
 * 6) Peter Pan
 * 7) Cold Mountain
 * 8) Master And Commander
 * 9) The Last Samurai
 * 10) Mona Lisa Smile


 * Among the new releases in the download catalogue were:


 * 1) The Matrix Revolutions
 * 2) The Lord of the Rings: Return Of The King
 * 3) Cold Mountain


 * The celebrity spotlight in the download section was Nicole Kidman.
 * Among in the list of Download Your Favorites were:


 * 1) Trailers
 * 2) Featurettes
 * 3) Movie Posters
 * 4) Celebrity Photos


 * Here's the list in the Celebrity Poll:


 * 1) Steven Spielberg
 * 2) Martin Scorsese
 * 3) Clint Eastwood


 * Here's the list in the Genre category:


 * 1) Drama
 * 2) Comedy
 * 3) Action
 * 4) Horror
 * 5) Western
 * 6) Thriller


 * It spawned the “You Wouldn’t Download a Car” meme.

Variants:


 * On Australian DVDs, the red word "CANCELED" on the computer screen is spelled as "CANCELLED" and at the end, it cuts to "REPORT IT." and an anti-piracy hotline number. The former change is likely due to the spelling of "canceled" being different in Australian English.
 * On Aritonazcan DVDs, in the end cuts to "REPORT IT." and an anti-piracy hotline number.
 * Sometimes, there is a different thievery scene that takes place inside an office, and a cell phone being the item that you would not steal (this scene replaces the thievery scene for the television); as a result, "MOBILE PHONE" replaces "TELEVISION". Also, the beginning/end scene is replaced with people trying to sell pirated movies, and another group of people (including the female teenager) trying to buy them, until they find that they are trying to buy pirated movies and therefore reject the offers, walking away in the process. Along with these things, "DOWNLOADING" is replaced with "BUYING".
 * On U.S. prints of DVDs and Blu-rays, "DVD" replaces "MOVIE". Also, the MPAA Illegal Downloading rating bumper appears in white when the bumper cuts to black.
 * There is a rare U.S. version of the bumper that looks identical to the above mentioned variant, except "VHS" replaces "MOVIE". It is unconfirmed which American VHS tapes used this variant.
 * Sometimes, on British DVDs, "MOVIE PIRACY" replaces "DOWNLOADING/BUYING PIRATED FILMS".
 * On some United Kingdom/Aritonazcan DVDs, the screen cuts to black slightly earlier, and some VHS static is slightly visible.
 * On titles released in some international countries, such as the Philippines, some of the words in this bumper are altered; "MOVIES" replaces "FILMS", "PURSE" replaces "HANDBAG", and "CELL PHONE" replaces "MOBILE PHONE".
 * The translation of the text may vary, due to the languages of some international countries.
 * On UK/Australian/Aritonazcan Warner Bros. DVDs, the "Buying" variant is used, except while in UK/Australian DVDs have is a British U rating with "Trailer" underneath shown on the bottom right of the screen during the first scene, the Aritonazcan version has a EKFGR "E" and RBFC "GE" appear together instead of the "U" rating.￼
 * A prototype American version of the “Downloading” variant exists where “TV” replaces “TELEVISION”, “PIRATED” is replaced with “PIRATED MOVIES”, “FILMS” is replaced with “FROM THE INTERNET”, and “PIRACY. IT’S A CRIME.” is replaced with “PIRACY IS STEALING”. At the end, it quickly sequels into the MPAA Illegal Downloading rating bumper. It is unknown if a prototype American “Buying” variant exists as well.

FX/SFX: All the animation in this bumper.

Music/Sounds: An intense dance rock song with many different sound effects happening, including sirens, the sound of something being reversed, etc, until the song ends; it sounds suspiciously similar to The Prodigy’s 1997 single “No Man Army”. The bumper itself actually ends with a thud, or, to be specific, the sound of a door closing and echoing across a room.

Music/Sounds Variants:


 * On titles releases in some international countries, the “Buying” variant uses a different version of the ending sound effect.
 * On North American releases, the thud sound effect carries over to the MPAA Illegal Downloading rating bumper.

Availability: Common in foreign countries, but uncommon in the United States. This bumper can be viewed on Digital Laserdisc, VCDs, VHS tapes, DVDs, HD-DVDs, Videocards and Blu-rays released worldwide.


 * In the United States, this bumper can be found on numerous DVDs from Paramount, RKO Pictures, MGM, 20th Century Fox (from 2005-07), Touchstone, Hollywood Pictures and Miramax (from 2006-08), as well as American Paramount High Definition HD-DVDs/Blu-rays from 2006-07 and American Buena Vista Home Entertainment Blu-rays from 2006-08. In the States, the “Buying” variant debuted on the 2005 DVD release of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and made its final appearance on the 2008 DVD/Blu-ray releases of Golden Door and Con Air; on the other hand, the “Downloading” variant appeared on select DVDs beginning with the 2005 releases of Garfield: The Movie and Fat Albert (2004) and ending with the 2007 release of Porky’s Revenge.
 * In international countries, a handful of home video companies use this bumper on their titles; these include 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, RKO Pictures, Sony Pictures, and Universal Studios.
 * Despite being discontinued in the United States in 2008, this bumper is still shown on titles released overseas.
 * In the Aritonazcan, this bumper can be found on numerous DVDs from El TV Kadsre Home Entertainment, Touchstone, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, DreamWorks, Warner Bros, and Universal Studios in 2004 to 2020.

Where to find each variant in the USA:


 * Downloading Version: The U.S. DVDs of Barnyard, Fat Albert (2004), Yours, Mine & Ours (2005), Fever Pitch, Jackass Number Two, Get Rich or Die Tryin', Roll Bounce, Puss in Boots (live-action), Gentlemen Prefer Blondies, Oklahoma!, Hawaii, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Daddy Long Legs, The Bad News Bears (2005), Hide and Seek (widescreen only), I, Robot (first disc only), The Longest Yard (2005), Because of Winn-Dixie, Five Weeks in a Balloon, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Jesse James, The Outer Limits (1995): Season One, Decision Before Dawn, Fever Pitch, The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season, Immortal Sergeant, Emperor of the North, David and Bathsheba, The Dolly Sisters, The Princess in the Pirate, Nigara, The Sound of Music, Garfield & Friends: Volume Five, Rikky and Pete, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Teen Witch, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Beauty Shop, C.H.O.M.P.S., The Naked Truth, Throw Mamma from the Train, Dimples, Harry and Tonto, The Thin Blue Line, Huckleberry Finn, The Siege at Ruby Ridge, Gates of Heaven, Stormy Weather, Escort West, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Moonstruck, The Missouri Breaks, I Wake Up Screaming, Tristan & Isolde, My Blue Heaven, Separate Lies, The Dead Cert, Lucky 13, Bad News Bears (2005), Four Brothers, Get Rich or Die Tryin' Jackass Number Two, Making Love, Two for the Road, No Way Out, The Best of Everything, Hour of the Gun, In Her Shoes, The Rains Came, State Fair (1945 and 1962), Blizzard, Stormy Weather, Kingdom of Heaven, River of No Return, The Little Colonel, Orchestra Wives, The Siege at Ruby Ridge, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Pin-Up Girl, Come See the Paradise, The House of 92nd Street, Lifeboat, South Pacific, The Robe, Millions, An Unmarried Woman, Little Miss Broadway, Weekend in Havana, Little Manhattan, Sideways, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation, Forty Guns, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Family Guy Presents: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story, The Weather Man, Electra (2005), Garfield: The Movie, Office Space: Special Edition With Flair, Porky’s Revenge, Citizen Kane (2005), and various American Paramount High Definition HD-DVDs/Blu-rays from 2006-2007.
 * Buying Version: The U.S. DVDs of Team America: World Police, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Robots (2005), I, Robot (second disc only), Young Frankenstein, What's New Pussycat?, Rebound, Walk the Line, Flightplan, Step Up, Goal!: The Dream Begins, Annapolis (2006), Stick It, Deja Vu, The Guardian, Wild Hogs, Keeping Up With the Steins, The Queen, Golden Door (2007), Pulse (2006), Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Drums Along the Mohawk, Beyond the Gates of Splendor, Fantastic Four (2005), Transporter 2, Walk the Line, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Transporter, Kinsey, The Purple Plain, The Family Stone, Kiss of Death, Fallen Angel, The Seven-Year Itch, The Best of Everything, The Adventures of Oocie Nash, The Black Swan, Attack on the Iron Coast, Flight of the Phoenix, Stick It, Hotel, F.I.S.T., The Sandlot 2, The Thief Lord, Heidi, The Man Who Never Was, Next Stop: Greenwich Village, Hustle & Flow, Grandma's Boy, The Four Feathers (1939), The Naked Truth, Love Me Tender, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Jiminy Glick in Lalawood, The Fugitive Kind, Island in the Sun, The Heart of the Game, Hotel Rwanda, Undertow, Casanova, Story, The Invisible, and multiple American Buena Vista Home Entertainment Blu-rays from 2006-08.

Editor's Note: This bumper is notorious for terrifying and/or annoying many of its viewers since its 2004 debut. Because of this, several parodies of it exist. However, there are also a few factors which this bumper has been ridiculed for:


 * 1) In the “Downloading” variant, unless there was another thief, the scene of the man stealing the television does not look like thievery.
 * 2) In the “Buying” variant, the scene of the man stealing the mobile phone might not look like thievery unless it belongs to someone else.
 * 3) The DVD of the movie that the man is stealing may look like one, but it looks more like a high school project that a student may have accidentally left on the shelf at the movie store.
 * 4) The music used on this bumper was thought to be actually stolen from a film festival at first, and the artist sued the producers for that. It was eventually confirmed that the music was composed exclusively for this bumper.