The campaign “movie thieves are criminals” continues to be present in 2006 with new ads and promotional events.

(Berlin, May 2006) Since November 2003 the movie industry’s campaign “movie thieves are criminals” has had a constant presence through ads, printed motifs and such spectacular events as “Prison on Tour”. The success speaks for itself: Although the copying and downloading has not been completely stopped, thanks to the concentrated actions by the film industry, when one considers the improved technology in homes, these activities are definitely being kept at bay. In 2006, the campaign is bringing out new internet movies and a new street promotional. These activities make it clear, that the internet is not a safe place for movie thieves anymore.

In November 2003, the film industry came together and organized the umbrella company Zukunft Kino Marketing GmbH and in co-operation with the German Federal Film Board (Filmförderungsanstalt; FFA) launched the “movie thieves are criminals” campaign – an initiative intended to protect original copies. Drastic-humorous spots and print-motifs together with high-visibility events are intended to make the viewer conscious of the injustice of piracy.

We may be currently experiencing the first round of victory. These are the results of the representative Bennerstudie 4 , performed under the request of the FAA. It showed that the awareness of the campaign “movie thieves are criminals“ has improved, showing an increase from 18 % (2004) to 31 % (2005), and for the core target group of those between 20 and 29, showing levels as high as 64 %. Another interesting result: those familiar with the campaign are much more conscientious of injustice in comparison to the general public.

movie thieves can’t hide
Due to these results, the Zukunft Kino Marketing GmbH has made a conscious decision to send out the clear message in 2006 and bring special attention to the problem of illegal movie copies. A major focal point is the internet, being the most important medium in the piracy scene for production and distribution of pirated movies. To this end, the campaign came out with its first so-called viral spot “They’ll track you down” – made especially for the internet. The story: Two movie thieves are out in a cow pasture wearing cow costumes in the search of a perfect hide-out – to no avail.

Since May 31, 2006, a new viral ad has come out so as to bring more light to the motto “movie thieves can’t hide, not even in the internet”. In the same drastic-humorous style characteristic of this campaign, the story tells of a suspected movie thief, who is on the run and seeks his hide-out on the football field. Camouflaging himself as a football, hopes to escape, but proves to be, in the truest since of the word, a score for the other side. “By means of these internet ads, the campaign ‘movie thieves are criminals’ is entering new paths of distribution. Up till now, it’s approached the public mostly via TV and movie theaters”, says Jan Oesterlin, managing director of Zukunft Kino Marketing GmbH. “Now are moving into the internet, the very scene of the crime, making it very clear, but in a humorous way, that even there, one can’t hide from the authorities forever.”

In addition to the viral ads, there are events planned for the summer of 2006 which will pickup on the theme “You can’t hide”. For this, the already known “prison on tour” will be set up at the Games Convention in Leipzig and the Internationalen Funkausstellung (IFA) in Berlin giving more information about the problems caused by copyright theft.

The danger is still not under control
The furtherance of the campaign is only one building block in the planned efforts by the movie industry. It continues to be necessary to fight piracy relentlessly, as Johannes Klingsporn, managing director of Association of Film Distributors (Verband der Filmverleiher e.V., VdF), clearly states, “The danger of piracy is still not under control. Don’t forget: The number of illegally copied movies and downloads has continued to grow, causing the movie industry incredible financial losses every year.” This was also documented by P4M – The Internet Agents, as well as the study, “Available-for-Download (AFD)”, done by the RWTH Aachen in 2005. They came to the conclusion that in the observation time between October 2004 and March 2005, 2/3 of all cinema films were available online. Of these, 1/3 were already available for download before the official movie release, 1/3 on the movie’s starting weekend and the rest in the following weeks.

There are more dangers to be considered than just economic losses. When discussing copyright theft, one must strongly consider the protection of minors. Many parents do not realize that their young ones are just one click away from having access to indecent and pornographic films. According to the analysis done by P4M – The Internet agents, which specializes in the online tracing of movie thief’s criminal activities, film titles can be found on the internet, which have been confiscated under court order in accordance with the law (§131 StGB) and therefore rated as extremely damaging to young people. 

“Pirated copies cause huge damages. In the long run, not only is the ‘movie culture’ in danger but the entire movie industry including all the jobs in connection to it, are being placed on the line. That is why the movie industry is pulling together in its fight against piracy”, says Jan Oesterlin. “We cannot and will not tolerate movie theft. Not now, not in the future.”

Source: German Federal Film Board (FFA), August 2005. Time of survey: January to June 2005. Written
questionnaire within the panels of the GfK-Media*Scope. 10.000 people, representative of 63.8 million
private, German individuals as of 10 years of age. The study can be found in detail as a PDF file under
http://www.ffa.de.