A recent study has uncovered an intriguing phenomenon: harsh anti-piracy warnings might actually encourage more people to pirate digital content, though the effect varies significantly between men and women.
The study found that men are more likely to increase their piracy activities after encountering messages that warn of legal consequences and other negative outcomes of piracy. On the other hand, women generally react as intended to these anti-piracy messages, showing a decrease in piracy behavior.
Conducted by the University of Portsmouth in the UK, the research highlights the necessity for gender-specific messaging and the impact of the tone used in anti-piracy campaigns.
Kate Whitman, a behavioral economist at the University of Portsmouth, points out, “Gender differences in piracy are well-documented, with men pirating more than women. They perceive it as more acceptable and less risky. Our research aimed to explore whether anti-piracy messaging affects men and women differently.”
The study involved 962 adult participants and tested three types of messages: two that were threatening and outlined the legal and security risks of digital piracy, and one that adopted a more educational and prosocial approach.
Interestingly, the educational message did not significantly alter piracy levels. However, the more threatening messages resulted in a stark contrast in reactions between genders. The most severe warning led to an 18 percent increase in piracy intentions among men, while it resulted in a 52 percent decrease among women.
“The study reveals that anti-piracy messages can sometimes have the opposite effect, a phenomenon known as psychological reactance,” Whitman explains. “From an evolutionary psychology standpoint, men may have a stronger negative reaction to perceived threats to their freedom, prompting them to act in defiance.”
This is not the first study to suggest that anti-piracy messaging could inadvertently lead to more piracy. The findings also indicated that those with a pre-existing favorable view of piracy were more likely to increase their pirating activities after being exposed to these messages.
Piracy, defined as downloading digital content through unauthorized means, is estimated to cost the movie, TV, and music industries billions of dollars annually.
According to the researchers, if the industry aims to reduce these losses, media companies need to reconsider their approach to anti-piracy messaging. While threatening messages may seem like a forceful deterrent, they might not be the most effective strategy.
“This study underscores the different ways men and women process threatening messages,” Whitman notes. “It suggests a need for customized anti-piracy messaging. However, if messages cannot be precisely targeted by gender, it might be better to avoid them altogether to prevent inadvertently increasing piracy rates.”
The findings of this research have been published in the Journal of Business Ethics.