Suspicious Devices in Boston Turn Out To Be Cartoon Promo

Post by **SupremeBlisseyFan** » January 31st, 2007, 6:13 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070131/ap_ ... us_devices

Suspicious electronic devices found at six different spots in Boston, Mass. (one of which has a character giving the finger) which led to the shutdown of a major interstate highway turned out to be advertisments for the Adult Swim series Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Boston's mayor promises a heavy penalty for whomever placed the devices.

Post by **droosan** » February 1st, 2007, 12:01 am

That's as may be, but I bet whoever came up with this 'stunt' for Cartoon Network gets a big promotion, and a fat raise, for all the 'free' advertising this got them.

I'm not a fan of Aqua Teen Hunger Force in any way, but I gotta hand it to them; the show was mentioned, by name, in nearly every national newscast .. and many local ones, too.

I was a tad disappointed in CNN tonight, when they didn't give the 'full disclosure' in their coverage of this story that Cartoon Network is a Turner Broadcasting subsidiary (as is CNN) .. usually, they're pretty good about that.

Still, I gotta give a big 'thumbs down' for the 'Chicken Little' attitude that allows something like this to escalate into a city-wide shut-down.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » February 1st, 2007, 7:49 am

I'm sorry, but I fail to see the humor in the situation.

This is about the third or fourth time in as many years that a BONE-HEADED --and yes I DO mean BONE-HEADED -- advertising stunt has caused unnecessary amounts of paranoia and thousands of dollars to be spent in security clean-up because the people-in-charge of the advertising campaign DIDN'T BOTHER TO TELL THE PROPER AUTHORITIES!

Can you imagine how people in New York or Washington, DC would have felt if this had happened in their town? The regular folks would have been calling for blood after this fiasco!

Yes, the studio SHOULD pay the cost of the police, bomb squads, and clean-up. The people of Boston should NOT have to pay for this on top of their already too-high taxes.

Yes, there should be prosecution and I'm sorry but somebody has to pay the piper so that an example is made and the next a-hole that thinks of something "cute" like this will stop for a bit and reconsider.

We are at WAR, folks, and we are living in a different world where "cute" stuff like this just doesn't belong. It's very irresponsible.

I'd love to see the reaction in LA or Atlanta (the business and production centers of Cartoon Network) if THEIR city gets attacked or has a terrorist incident. Maybe people wouldn't be so smug and laugh this stuff off.

I can see most people just don't get it...

Post by **droosan** » February 1st, 2007, 8:04 am

Did I tout the 'situation' as humourous ..? Did SupremeBlisseyFan ..?

No ..?

Well, then .. whatever.

Post by **Ben** » February 1st, 2007, 8:44 am

I think George was commenting directly on the story. Nothing personal, droo!

Post by **Meg** » February 1st, 2007, 5:17 pm

I can't decide if this is absolutely brilliant or totally idiotic.

Post by **eddievalient** » February 1st, 2007, 6:18 pm

Just my two cents: If I saw a Lite-Brite (which is essentially all those things were) hanging off a bridge or whatever, I wouldn't think it was a bomb or anything remotely dangerous. I would wonder what it was, but that's all. The fact that people were scared by something so utterly harmless just goes to show that, for all our blustering about the so called "war on terror" (the results of which are debateable), the terrorists have achieved an almost complete and total victory. They don't need to do anything else, we're doing a terrific job on ourselves.

Post by **Sullivan** » February 1st, 2007, 6:28 pm

The guys who put these up in Boston are my new heroes. Did you see their 70's haircut press conferences?

Eddie Valient is right. We're a scaredy-cat nation. It's like a twilight-zone episode where the bad guys can safely sit back and watch us tear each other apart over fear and paranoia.

We're scared of our own shadows. Boston should be paying those guys for the best counter-terrorism training exercize they ever got.

Post by **ShyViolet** » February 1st, 2007, 10:35 pm

I'm still not sure how I feel about this either.....but it reminds me of this quote by Lisa Simpson about the 21st century:

"It's a lot like the 20th, except everybody's afraid, and the Stock Market is MUCH lower."

Post by **Meg** » February 2nd, 2007, 2:54 pm

The guys who put these up in Boston are my new heroes. Did you see their 70's haircut press conferences?

Yeah, it was soooo kewl how they were acting like eight-year-olds instead of mature adults! Ha ha ha!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » February 3rd, 2007, 3:17 am

No,

The guys in charge of this ATHF Movie advertising campaign ARE COMPLETE EGOTISTICAL IDIOTS.

I'm sorry, but you don't do stuff like this WITHOUT CONTACTING THE PROPER AUTHORITIES. You can't sell a bagel from a cart on a street corner in either New York or Boston without a permit. What makes THESE JERKS so special that they can hire two foreign shlubs to hang these LED devices all over town without telling anybody what they're doing?

(Heck, it was tasteless just to hang LEDs with the image of a character flipping people off. And that's the state of "sophisticated" animation comedy???)

Remember the Olympic park bombing that took place around 10 years ago IN THIS COUNTRY? It was just an innocent paper sack filled with "harmless" things like nails and -- dare we forget? -- an INNOCENT LITTLE BOMB no bigger than any of these LED devices hung all around Boston.

The fact that I read on other boards many animators blowing off this incident shows how out-of-touch that particular community is with the reality of things going on in the world.

On the other hand considering how many animators ARE OUT OF WORK because they're expecting another Walt Disney or self-proclaimed messianic figure to restart Walt Disney (TRADITIONAL) Feature Animation and hand them work, I guess it shouldn't be such a big surprise after all...

Post by **eddievalient** » February 3rd, 2007, 5:34 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDC4fOX-ht8

Apparently, the charges against Stevens and Perdovsky have been dropped. Nice of Boston to admit (sort of) that they goofed.