» Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Number 1 In The Hood "G" Options

[BStu]

The Aqua Teens are shutting down Boston today.

How is this ATHF related? I detail the Aqua Teen connection on my MySpace blog. Un-freaking-believable. Not sure the press has pieced this together yet, but I'm sure they will soon. Any bets on whether this hurts Adult Swim?

This post has been edited by BStu: Feb 1, 2007 @ 1:24 am.

[ScarletPrincess]

This is the statement from Turner Broadcasting. Ted Turner should be thrown in jail today for this stunt. It was a mess downtown today. I saw helicopters hovering all over the city. What a completely stupid and idiotic thing this was. There better be some repercussions for this. I'm never watching anything on a Turner network again, I can tell you that.

[BStu]

Here's the thing, though. Okay, they overreact to the first one thinking it might be a bomb. But they quickly realized that all it was was an LED circuit board. So why did they continue to overreact the rest of the day shutting down major roads and rivers? They knew at that point that it was just an LED light. It took me 5 minutes after noticing it looked like a Mooninite to find out that it was actually an ad placed by a marketing firm. The first one was a fair response. The rest weren't and if the police couldn't figure this out, the media should have. I, for one, am very suspect about the way major media companies refused to out another media company until they put out a statement themselves. Are you telling me I'm smarter than everyone at CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.? Sorry, but I'm not nearly so self-important. Someone at those media outlets knew this very early in the day and they sat on the information and let this all fester. That bothers me. They kept scaring people claiming this was a bomb hoax when they should have known that it was just harmless guerilla marketing. The media made a huge deal about this while protecting one of their own.

[Pulpbomb]

My love for adult swim & ATHF remains unwavering. But this was a dumb move. The reaction was a bit overmuch, however.

[macaddict]

I can't believe anyone thought they were bombs. They look like Lite-Brites.

[Earl Camembert]

Are you telling me I'm smarter than everyone at CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, etc.?

Yes. Actually, I'd wager you're smarter than a couple of them tied together. I doubt if anyone at the networks had any clue as to what ATHF is, nor had the curiousity to dispatch an intern to do an image search of what the objects resembled. The idea of a Ted Baxter or a Kent Brockman didn't just manifest itself out of thin air.

This post has been edited by Earl Camembert: Jan 31, 2007 @ 7:03 pm.

[BStu]

Let's be honest. If they dispatched an intern to do an image search, the intern probably would have just told them what they were.

Thing is, I'm 29. I'm well past intern age and I've been watching Aqua Teens for, what? Almost 8 years now? You don't need to be an intern to know what they are. And once you know what they are, it literally took me a single Google search to find Flickr images and YouTube video of the ads and information about who placed them. There is just no excuse for the major media companies not having someone capable of doing the same thing. I'll grant you that I'm sure there is a lot of ineptitude at the top that could have delayed this getting on air, but the fact that no one acknowledge that Turner was at fault until Turner did so seems fishy to me. I know an alt-weekly here in Boston was chasing down the same leads I did and they are more of a real news outfit. Moreover, people were posting about this all over the internet by 4pm but from what I've heard, no one pointed out this connection until Turner came clean.

[ScarletPrincess]

The first one that was found was underneath Rte 93, a major route into and out of Boston. It was also sitting above an MBTA station. Which happened to be the stop right after the one I get on, though I couldn't do that today because they shut down the station. Someone looking way up may not realize what it is and might not have seen the cartoon part of it. Calling in the authorities was absolutely the right thing to do. I've never watched Adult Swim or Aqua Teen Hunger Force (and I ABSOLUTELY won't be doing so now). Did it get blown (no pun intended) out of proportion? May be. But why wire it in those places (under bridges, etc)? I think it was incredibly ill advised on Turner's part. If anything, they owe me $15, which is the cost I'm out for parking when I should have been able to take the T.

[rimfire]

It seems they were called in AS bombs, at least the first couple were. For what I can understand from Menino's (Boston's mayor) interview on PBS, the devices were called into the police on a schedule, like every hour or so, when the hubbub would die down from the previous search.

He's talking about suing Turner for a million since that was what it cost to deploy the city, state and federal police and equipment.

It sounds like someone thought it was sort of like a high-tech sticker campaign (where you put bumper stickers in obvious places like lightposts and roadsigns) who just didn't realize that anything electronic looking might look more like a bomb than a bumper sticker.

[MegaJ]

They're in other cities too. Like San Fran.

I still can believe anyone thought this was a bomb, even if it they didn't recognize the characters. I mean, flashing LED lights? What kind of bomb is that?

Thing is, I'm 29. I'm well past intern age and I've been watching Aqua Teens for, what? Almost 8 years now? You don't need to be an intern to know what they are. And once you know what they are, it literally took me a single Google search to find Flickr images and YouTube video of the ads and information about who placed them. There is just no excuse for the major media companies not having someone capable of doing the same thing. I'll grant you that I'm sure there is a lot of ineptitude at the top that could have delayed this getting on air, but the fact that no one acknowledge that Turner was at fault until Turner did so seems fishy to me. I know an alt-weekly here in Boston was chasing down the same leads I did and they are more of a real news outfit. Moreover, people were posting about this all over the internet by 4pm but from what I've heard, no one pointed out this connection until Turner came clean.

That's news for you. They want to keep people scared and tuned in to their news programs all day. That's why they sat on the information.

This post has been edited by MegaJ: Jan 31, 2007 @ 7:55 pm.

[HillClimber]

I so want one of those signs. I busted out laughing when I saw the news report on NBC this evening. They had a picture of an Ignignokt sign before they got to the part of the story explaining what they were.

The point of criticism I see is if its illegal to post signs, advertisements, etc. on public property. IBM got into trouble in San Fran for painting "Peace, Love, Linux" graphics on sidewalks and Sony has had professional artists tagging buildings to promote the PSP (the story led me to believe they didn't have permission).

[ScarletPrincess]

Aaaaaaand, we have our first arrest.

[BStu]

On grounds of posting an illegal sign, that's fine. These guerilla marketers know what they are doing and know the risks. My problem here is that the intent was clearly promotion and any penalty should be proportionate to the intent. The fact that others responded differently doesn't sit well with me. Its punishing you not for intent but for the intent of others. Fine the company. Charge the kid with tresspassing if you must. But these calls for terrorism related charges don't seem remotely fair to me. The fact is that these were posted for weeks without causing any fuss in 10 cities around the country. That eventually one inspired a different response is not fair grounds to punish someone. The statute at play would seem to make forgetting your back back in a park punishable by prison time and that's just reasonable. Intent is important and the fact remains that there was no intent to threaten or cause panic here. I actually hope Turner steps up and agrees to pay restitution, but this kid deserves nothing more than a slap on the wrist. (and if police already tracked him down, he was either given up quickly by Turner or the police knew what this all was long before they did anything to quiet the panic this kid is being charged with starting).

[gondee]

I'm sorry, but the marketing firm that did this ploy was the epitome of dumb. If they had just hung them up anywhere but major TRANSIT areas - bridges, subways, come on. Why not just stick digital clocks counting down to the movie release on them too? I don't blame them for being mad - if it's got electrical wires sticking out, not everyone is going to know that it's a character from an obscure cartoon on in the middle of the night.

Restitution should be paid, absolutely. I love ATHF but this marketing firm is about the dumbest I've ever heard.

This post has been edited by gondee: Jan 31, 2007 @ 9:13 pm.

[HillClimber]

Just because a sign is electronic or has wires doesn't mean it should be off limits for a marketing campaign. Nor does the fact that some people are retarded and over-reacted. A friend left her laptop in an airport, by the time she realized it they'd already cordoned off the area. Neither that nor the ATHF promotion were a terrorist event.

If they're gonna slam someone, slam them for the guerilla marketing. If its legal to place promotional material on a bridge or a building then what's the crime? It shouldn't become a crime just because its electronic, unless the law restricts electronic devices. That said, I doubt that they had permission from the hospital, transit authority, etc. to place these. There's your crime. Marketing companies shouldn't be free to act as if they have the right to plaster anything they wish with signs, etc. It doesn't matter if they're easy to take down or not.