Remember that dramatic (and kinda creepy) anti-piracy ad from the early 2000s? Of course you do! But bet you didn’t know that it actually might’ve stolen something itself.
Turns out the 2004 ad telling us that downloading a movie online was basically like stealing a car, seemingly stole the font that put the fear in us.
According to a Bluesky user who ran the ad’s graphics through some font-identifying software, it seems to have used a dodgy version of the same font created by Dutch designer Just van Rossum.
van Rossum originally released the grungy, crime-style font as ‘FF Confidential’ back in 1992.
But the font used in the Motion Picture Association video is allegedly a bootleg version called ‘XBand-Rough’ - which did the rounds online without proper licensing.
van Rossum told Sky News: "I had known about the 'illegal clone' of my font before, but I didn't know that that was the one used in the campaign.
"The campaign has always had the wrong tone, which (to me) explains the level of fun that has been had at its expense.”
The irony of it having used a pirated font is just precious.
To be fair, there’s no solid proof that the creators of the anti-piracy ad knew the font was pirated. It was the early era of the internet, and illegal downloads like LimeWire were popping up everywhere.
And we’ve gotta give the ad a bit of a break, it’s been through the ringer over the last few years, especially after a 2022 study suggested it had the opposite effect on piracy.
The Information Society reckons the ad actually encouraged more piracy because it was so over the top, it didn’t land with anyone and, instead, became more of a joke.
Basically, no one felt like a “criminal” because they weren’t physically taking anything.
“Informing directly or indirectly individuals that many people pirate is counterproductive and encourages piracy by driving the targeted individuals to behave similarly,” the study said.
And it pointed out that the only people who actually had to sit through the ad were the ones who PAID to see the movie LEGALLY.
Pirates edited the ads out - obviously - so the message wasn’t even reaching the main audience they were trying to target.
That’s rough, but a massive laugh at the same time.
