Anyone who went to a cinema or watched a DVD in the mid 2000s will remember the Federation Against Copyright Theft and Motion Picture Association of America's pounding pre-movie lecture. Famous for the line "You wouldn't steal a car," the public service ads compared downloading films to stealing cars, TVs and handbags.
Whether the ad did more to prevent piracy or promote it is in doubt – it taught a lot of people that films could be downloaded and made doing so look quite exhilarating. But the ads gained a place in popular culture, leading to memes and spoofs that persist 20 years on.
