Saw something in Business Week (the article isn’t online) about the MPAA putting up anti-bootlegging ads in NYC.  The article had a picture of the ad, mock “ratings” of bootlegged movies pointing out the difference in quality between the average camcordered copy & “the real thing” — calling people “stupid” for buying the copies.

One thing they leave out: the lower cost.

Think about it for a second.  How much do movie tickets cost these days?  Matinee price around here is already 7 bucks, and that’s PER PERSON.  A family of four getting tickets & popcorn & drinks?  You better be loaded.  The pirate copy, in contrast, in exchange for the lower quality is MAYBE 5 dollars, everyone can watch it without paying any extra, and if you want popcorn you can get a box of the microwave kind for two dollars & know it’s fresh. 

See, just because you slap a price on something doesn’t mean that’s how much it’s worth to everyone, people regularly make conflicting value judgements; if they buy a bootleg copy, they’re in essence saying “this is how much I believe that movie is REALLY worth”.  If the movie industry had any brains about them, simultaneous release on DVD & in the theaters would be more common. 

The MPAA’s assumption seems to be that the people who get these streetcorner boots have no idea that there’d be a lower quality to them, as if they’d take it home, put it in, hit “play” and suddenly shriek in horror that their new copy of Spiderman 3 isn’t crystal clear.  Frankly, if you are the rare type that’d do that, then you shouldn’t buy ‘em — in fact, you shouldn’t leave your house, as I’m shocked you managed to get to the bootlegger considering you like to play in traffic.