P2P robs corn farmers?
The MPAA and RIAA stop-piracy-or- train is getting increasingly ridiculous. Earlier, in order to stop piracy of movies, MPAA has viewed its primary customers as criminals looking upon them as suspects. The only thing that remains is being strip-searched. I am sure given how any violation of privacy or civil liberties is currently allowed by merely mentioning terrorism, this might not be too far in the future. When the scare tactics do not work or are found to be borderline violation of privacy, the authorities resort to emotional blackmail. The latest tactic employed by NBC Universal is to drag in corn farmers.
The company claims that P2P and file-sharing-related piracy hurts the wallets of poor corn farmers simply trying to make a living. The idea behind this ridiculous claim is that – “in the absence of movie piracy, video retailers would sell and rent more titles. Movie theatres would sell more tickets and popcorn. Corn growers would earn greater profits and buy more farm equipment.” Zero Paid interpreted this as going to theaters and not buying popcorn from the concession stands. I’m sure the NBC Universal executives probably implied this as well. This goes against all logic and wrongly assumes that consumption of popcorn is not only essential to movie-watching but also mandatory for a complete cinematic experience. If only they understood that it is the seats we sit in and the quality of movie projection and sound we see and hear that really counts.
The concession stand in a theater has the highest markup just as selling alcohol in a restaurant or soda in a fast-food joint. By citing the reduced consumption of popcorn as a case against movie pirates, NBC Universal hopes to win the support of the corn industry which in fact is already heavily subsidized by agricultural subsidies. But I fail to see what difference does such a statement make. If the video pirates do not care about that ominous FBI warning at the beginning of every movie, will they shed a tear for the oh-so-poor American corn farmer? With the rising interest in ethanol, I’m sure the corn farmers do not consider movie popcorn as a prime revenue source and am sure would not give a rat’s ass if you rip a movie. And what does NBC Universal plan on doing – force us to watch crappy movies and buy popcorn?
Blockbuster already has their checkout aisle surrounded by candy and popcorn buckets hoping to lure you and if that wasn’t working, are now offering a $5.99 (monthly) card that lets you get a free snack with every movie you rent. The poor guy at the Blockbuster checkout counter monotonously asks me every time I rent a movie if I want to buy some candy and I dutifully refuse each time. And he doesn’t seem too perturbed. He would do the same if he was on this side of the counter.
“P2P robs corn farmers?” [Short URL: http://www.ipatrix.com/?p=2102] was published Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 5:05 pm by Patrix, filed under Business, Movies, Society Culture, United States, and tagged as Business, emotional blackmail, Hollywood, Movies, MPAA, NBC, P2P, piracy, popcorn, scare tactics, United States, violation of privacy. Both comments and linkbacks are closed.
