Apr 15 2009
Miramax Uses Twitter, Guilt to Stop Piracy
I laughed out loud when I read this story, but it actually ends up provoking a larger question about movie studios’ attitude toward piracy in general.
Twitter user Amanda Music wondered: “Ugh WHY IS ADVENTURELAND NOT ON TORRENTS YET?” The US distributor for Greg Mottola’s Adventureland is Miramax Films, and they’ve been actively seeking out Tweets about the movie, as evidenced in their response to Amanda: “Cmon Amanda, don’t do it. #adventureland #fbi.” Amanda replied: “Okay I won’t, JUST FOR YOU,” prompting Miramax to respond: “Thanks Amanda. In return, I have a free Fandango card for 2 tix if you’re interested in Adventureland. Just DM us for the code.”
So essentially, “Please don’t watch our movie for free, instead here are two tickets to go see our movie for free.” Gotta love that logic.
Clearly Miramax was making a public gesture so people like myself would take notice and write about it, but it provokes an interesting idea. What if movie studios started using the carrot instead of the stick in order to stop piracy? Obviously two free tickets for every download is only cost effective in bizzaro world, but a little incentive never hurt anyone.
Do you think movie studios should reward people for not pirating? And what would motivate you? In exchange for not downloading Adventureland myself, I’ll take a full body massage from Kristen Stewart. Thanks Miramax!
More Unreal Posts
- The Final Countdown: Old School Piracy, Sasha Grey on Entourage and the Muppets vs. Lost
- Wolverine Fighting Piracy With Multiple Endings, Idiocy
- Watch Moon on YouTube. For Free. Legally. Right Now
- Guitar Hero 5 Contest Gives You Tickets to Experience Real Life Music as Well
- An Inside Look at Pixar Studios
[...] Miramax Uses Twitter, Guilt to Stop Piracy (Movies) [...]
[...] Miramax Uses Twitter, Guilt to Stop Piracy [...]
You’re an idiot. Miramax is clearly saying that a dialogue is possible.
Where else is happened that a company approached a thief offering them the good they wish to steal?
Of course, on the Internet, because there is no phisical good.
Miramax will win the trust of the reader of twitters, and of the various articles about what happened.
It will remember that companies are watching who’s downloading pirated movies, even tho they are kinda flexible about this.
It will also tell the internet users to not brag all around about torrents. Wanna watch a movie, you can download it, if you like it go to the cinema and watch it in a decent way, or just delete the “movie” (which is always downgraded, so not subject to copyright) off your hard disk.
But don’t brag too much about torrents and filesharing.