You Wouldn't Steal a Car

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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 in cooperation with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore in 2004 and appeared on many commercial DVDs as either a skippable clip or an unskippable clip before a movie. It shows a man committing theft of various objects, and compares these crimes with downloading or buying a pirated film.

Video You Wouldn't Steal a Car

Plot

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 choose 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
• "BUYING"/"PIRATED"/"FILMS"/"IS STEALING" (if the illegal street shop was in the starting).
• "MOVIE"/"PIRACY"/"IS STEALING" (alternative version)

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.

Maps You Wouldn't Steal a Car

In popular culture

The IT Crowd episode Moss and the German made a spoof of the advert near the start of the episode.

The Greens-European Free Alliance in association with rafilm released their own version of the film to oppose the media industry and government views on existing copyright laws as well as to educate the public on alternative views about intellectual property.

src: www.lynkformer.com

References

Source of the article : Wikipedia