Creative America, the coalition of studios and others backing anti-piracy bills, have launched a print ad targeted to members of Congress asking them to "stop foreign criminals from stealing American jobs."
The coalition joins a host of organizations trying to get their message out and a last word in before Thursday's markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House Judiciary Committee.
The coalition also supports the Senate version, the PROTECT IP Act. Both are targeted at shutting down foreign web sites targeting U.S. audiences with pirated goods, including TV shows and movies. Both bills have bipartisan support, and some bipartisan opposition as well.
The print ad, in the form of an open letter to Congress, is in addition to an online and national TV spot campaign in support of the bill.
In a speech Tuesday, Chris Dodd, head of the Motion Picture Association of America (many of whose members are in the coalition), said that content theft costs "373,000 jobs annually; $16 billion in earnings each year; $3 billion in state, local, and federal taxes each year; and a total of $58 billion in economic output each year."
