“You wouldn’t steal a car” anti-piracy campaign may have used pirated fonts

Do as I say, not as I do: the viral trend every millennial will probably eye-roll at

Revelations about an anti-piracy campaign video will bring the noughties all back for millennials growing up in the heady days of bootleg DVDs, PC roms, and shaky five mega-pixel cinema recordings. In intimidating and melodramatic fashion, it declared how you wouldn’t steal car, handbag, or a television. But, if you’re the anti-piracy campaign – you would steal a font. Because now, as it turns out, the typeface it used was in fact, pirated. The …

Famous anti-piracy campaign ‘used pirated font’

Social media users spotted the dramatic font was pirated from another designer

Famous anti-piracy advert 'used pirated font'

The advert compared downloading a pirate film to burgling someone’s house or taking their car (Picture: FACT/Motion Picture Association) You wouldn’t steal a car. You wouldn’t steal a handbag. You wouldn’t steal a television. You wouldn’t steal a DVD. You would steal a… font?! An amazingly ironic claim has been made about the most famous piracy ad of all time, alleging that it used a pirated font itself. The advert is well known after being play…

You wouldn't steal a font: Famous anti-piracy campaign may have used pirated typeface

The dramatic adverts, which compared pirating films to stealing cars, handbags and televisions, became a piece of pop culture history, with spoofs spawned for years afterwards.

If you lived the time of the DVDs, at the beginning of the millennium, I'm sure you remember the aggressive anti-piracy ad that I'm going to show you.

An analysis of the campaign in cinemas in the early 2000s shows that the typeface used was a replica of a commercial typeface.