p2p news / p2pnet: In the US, the major movie studios use their MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) to try to terrorize people into abandoning the p2p file sharing networks with the ever-cooperative mainstream media acting as their foils.

In Germany, however, they’re considerably more creative. There, film makers have unwrapped a whole slew of tricky (they believe) promos designed to convince file sharers that they’re criminals. (And you know what happens to criminals ;p)

A viral campaign is something the originators hope will spread wildly without them having to do much beyond setting it up. You do the work for them. And with that in mind, a “new” German film industry viral ad for its Bottleggers are criminals campaign started yesterday.

Available online, the ad “has been explaining what the consequences of pirating are at the scene of the crime; the Internet,” says ZKM Zukunft Kino Marketing GmbH, a subsidiary of the Main Association of German Cinemas (Hauptverband deutscher Filmtheater, HDF), the Cineropa Multiplex Association and the Association of Film Distributors (Verband der Filmverleiher, VdF).

Since its launch in 2003, Bootleggers has, “continually drawn attention to itself with well-known TV and cinema spots, drastic-humorous campaign posters and actions such as ‘Prison on Tour’,” says ZKM. The latest effort, in cinemas and on some TV networks, is called They`ll track you down and shows, “wild chase scenes”.

Apparently, the ad is, “characterised by satiric and ironic overtones, which is particular to the genre of viral ads”. The characters and the plot development are “highly exaggerated the viewer recognises immediately that the situation being depicted is fictional”.

Developed especially for the Internet, and “only to be seen there, Bottleggers are criminals is “clearly opening up new avenues for distribution,” says ZKM. “Up until now, the public was being approached primarily via TV and cinema; the campaign is now bringing the campaign directly to the scene of the crime, the Internet.”

BUT —- the bottlegger movies ain’t all she wrote.

“The internet is and remains the principal distribution market for illegal copies of films,” says ZKM director Elke Esser. “In this case, suppliers and consumers are both counting on the alleged anonymity of the World Wide Web. With this spot, we would like to demonstrate in a humorous way that in the long run you can`t hide out in the Internet, either.”

Thus, “the campaign website – www.hartabergerecht.de – is also being revised and now offers visitors the possibility of integrating their own photos or that of a friend in the now well-known wanted poster”.

It’ll get used. But whether or not it’ll have the desired effect is seriously open to question ; )

But that’s still not the end of it.

Germany’s movie industry is also using eBay.

Also starting yesterday, “the original prison cell used in the promotional campaign ‘Prison on Tour’ will be auctioned off as part of a charity auction involving a visit to private homes,” adds ZKM. “The two actors Sylwia von Wildburg and Egon Hofmann from the RTL series ‘Behind Bars the Women`s Prison’ also ‘belong’ to the winnings. They will join the house visit as celebrity prison guards, distribute free tickets to the cinema to all volunteer ‘prisoners’ and are sure to report on their life ‘behind bars’.”

Yes. Well …………

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First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
- Mohandas Gandhi

Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.

See:-
ZKM Zukunft Kino Marketing GmbH – They`ll track you down!, November 7, 2005

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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