A ubiquitous gift sure to stuff stockings this year would be the must-have movies and nostalgic flicks. Let’s face it, DVDs are even in convenience stores nowadays, but based on popularity (or the exact opposite) some of these movies may be hard to find.
What’s not hard to find, however, are pirated copies. Pirated content and counterfeits may seem like quite the steal because they are precisely that: stolen. The criminals behind pirating movies are cheating. They’re cheating the consumers (you) out of future entertainment. They’re
cheating the millions of professionals from boom operators to craft services to script supervisors out of earning any kind of living. And they’re cheating local, state, and the national economy out of
billions in revenue, taxes, and jobs.
As you can see, movies are so much more than entertainment. They’re engrained in our culture and can prop up entirely new spin-off industries. Take the it-movie of today,
The Hobbit. The flick features the vast landscapes of New Zealand, piquing the interest of moviegoers and
spurring an entire tourism industry for the small country.
If films and TV shows large and small are severely limited by counterfeiting and piracy, just think of the devastating effects it poses to the multitude of industries tied to their viability.
With consequences like that, it’s clear we’re not talking about small-time crooks. Back in October, a few men were charged with trafficking
100,000 illicit DVDs. But it gets worse. We’re also seeing the likes of
drug cartels starting to turn to piracy and counterfeiting for new income streams. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want my holiday gifts to have any sort of connection to
organized crime.
This is a holiday story, however, and it does have a happy ending. You don’t have to “own” or gift these illicit items. Though easily confronted by counterfeits online or on the corner, consumers can do their part by purchasing from trusted retailers and avoiding deals too good to be true, especially when the film isn’t even out of theatres yet.
Image from iStock
