NCPC, in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the consequences of intellectual property theft. We applaud any effort (government or other) to raise awareness of the issue, but are worried it might be falling on deaf ears.

The campaign is currently running a very dramatic television ad explaining that revenues from counterfeit goods support serious criminal activities. While everything in the ad is factually true, many in the mainstream are unfortunately finding the ad overstated at best and ridicules at worst.

We are seeing a little déjà vu here. Ads like these, trying to alert people to serious and widespread problems are often scorned and made fun of. As someone who grew up in the 90s I remember ads trying to spread awareness of sexual harassment. I also remember a lot of boys at school (not girls) making fun of the ads. I hope this ad does not end up with the same fate.

Below is the ad so you can watch it yourself. Do you think the ad makes the counterfeiting problem too dramatic? Do you think a different approach would be been better?