Posted on 02/01/2007 3:16:22 AM PST by billorites
A furious Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino vowed yesterday to throw the book at the masterminds behind a guerrilla marketing campaign gone amok that plunged the city into bomb-scare pandemonium and blew nearly $1 million in police overtime and other costs.
As city and state attorneys laid groundwork for criminal charges and lawsuits, cops seized 27-year-old Arlington multimedia artist Peter Berdovsky, who posted film on his Web site boasting that he and friends planted the battery-wired devices, and Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown. Both were jailed overnight on charges of placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct.
“This is outrageous activity to get publicity for a failing show,” said Menino, referring to the battery-operated light-up ads for the Cartoon Network’s “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” which sparked at least nine bomb scares in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville.
Menino promised to sue Turner Broadcasting Co., the Cartoon Network’s parent company, and criminally prosecute Berdovsky and anyone else responsible for the devices, and to petition the FCC to pull the network’s license.
Attorney General Martha Coakley was put in charge of the case and said the companies behind the promotion would be investigated. She said the felony charge of planting a hoax device could be broad enough to allow prosecution even if the stunt’s sponsors did not intend a panic.
“To do this kind of placement of devices the way it was, an individual had to know or should have that it was going to create the kind of panic it did,” Coakley said last night during a press conference.
Panic was the order of the day in Boston as city, state and federal investigators, police and bomb units raced through the city seeking 38 of the devices, in some cases destroying them as a precaution.
Shutdowns affected Storrow and Memorial drives, the Longfellow and Boston University bridges and Interstate 93, while extra Coast Guard patrols were seen at Rowes Wharf and at commuter ferries.
“I cannot state strongly enough the seriousness of this offense,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley. “Commerce was disrupted, transportation routes were paralyzed, residents were stranded, relatives across the nation were in fear for their loved ones here in the city of Boston.”
In a statement, Turner Broadcasting said the light-emitting devices pose no danger and are part of a 10-city outdoor marketing campaign for the cartoon program. A Boston police spokesman said the company did not have permits to place the signs in the city.
“We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger,” the Turner statment said.
All told, the cost of extra police and activating the city’s anti-terror command center will cost Boston $800,000 to $1 million in damages, an angry Menino estimated.
Gov. Deval Patrick said he was not impressed by the apology from Turner Broadcasting.“I am deeply dismayed to learn that the devices are a part of a marketing campaign. This stunt has caused considerable disruption and anxiety in our community,” he said.
The bomb scare reports began about 8 a.m. when a MBTA worker reported a package with wires and tubes protruding from it that was stuck on a steel girder under Interstate 93 at Sullivan Square Station in Charlestown. The devices, featuring characters with raised middle fingers, had magnetic backs and were affixed to metal.
The reports spread throughout the day to the Boston University and Longfellow bridges, Downtown Crossing, the intersection of Stuart Street and Columbus Avenue, the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Memorial Drive in Cambridge, the McCarthy Overpass on the McGrath O’Brien Highway in Somerville and at a comic book store in Brighton.
The discovery of two more devices last night at the Massachusetts College of Art prompted another brief evacuation. By the end of the day, investigators had recovered 14 of the 38 devices believed to be placed in the Boston area and urged the public to report the whereabouts of others.
Just after three p.m., two bomb-sniffing dogs swept through City Hall, spending 16 minutes in Menino’s office. “It is outrageous, in a post 9/11 world, that a company would use this irresponsible marketing scheme,” Menino said.
They should have at least sought permits. At a minimum, they should have ran a story in the local newspapers stating what the signs were about. This stunt, considering our current state of awareness, was dumb.
So if someone called in and said that there was a cartoon character holding a large alarm clock which ticked in large downtown city, should Sponge Bob be held responsible if the police send a hundred fire trucks and police cars?
How can you begin to blame the President for this? How would you have expected the police to react to devices that looked like bombs? To do nothing? Even if 9/11 had not happened, the police would have responded in the same way. They would have assumed that these devices were dangerous until it could be proven otherwise.
The President's war strategy has nothing to do with this incident. Instead of bashing Mr. Bush, you should be criticizing Ted Turner.
I have to disagree with you on that position, too. Besides IED briefings, I've also seen lots of bombs in Hollywood movies, and I think I know what the average, reasonable person's idea of a bomb looks like. Even if we move past the idea of the LED timer that beeps every second, there has to be some kind of mass to an explosive device. Everyone knows what a pipe bomb looks like. Lots of people have seen more sophisticated and dangerous bombs portrayed in movies -- dramatizations of the WTC and OKC bombs, or similar bombs in the X-Files movie, Fight Club, or Sleeper Cell. All of the above have a great deal more mass than the ATHF devices.
I think a reasonable person might be curious, even cautious, about these devices -- even so far as to ask an authority to investigate it. But it should've ended there. I think the bomb squad that detonated the first device did so purely out of boredom, looking for an excuse to put their training into use and blow something up.
Also, from the footage I've seen, these signs are most visible -- and most effective -- seen at night. In the dark, the illuminated character is visible, and the "frightening" bits and pieces are not. The creator did not intend the devices' bomb-like nature (which I still contest) to be effective, but the appearance of an illuminated character in the dark.
“To do this kind of placement of devices the way it was, an individual had to know or should have that it was going to create the kind of panic it did,” Coakley said last night during a press conference.
I thought I heard there were 9 other cities involved in this promotion. Havent heard from them, looks like Boston is the only city to overreact, and now they are embarassed and mad darn it!
Please go read my post #80 and get back to us on that.
These were effective advertisements because they were designed to play on what people are looking for in a bomb. That may be stupid, but it is what it is.
You go placing these things on vital infrastructure all over town, somebody is going to notice and react. Certainly you are not contending that this reaction was not entirely forseeable, if not inevitable.
They were designed to elicit the reaction they got. Free advertising for Turner at the cost of paralyzing a city for a day. Lots of buzz for Turner at the cost of planting in the mind of people that unauthorized devices strapped to bridge supports is no big deal.
But no blood, no foul... right?
Attach big number behind dollar sign to bogus expense and act outraged. Full stop.
Everything costs a Million Dollars. Haven't you noticed?
Your scenario is just ABSURD! No one in their right mind would do what you propose, knowing the trouble they would be in.
Would Menino be equally upset if the devices were real bombs planted by real Muslims? Wouldn't that equate to racial profiling under today's arbitary rules of PC? (It's a rhetorical question - save your flame)
September 10th thinking aside, in a post 9/11 world, it was a stupid idea, but I don't think it is one worthy of criminal action.
Baloney! Exposed batteries, exposed wires, and breadboards are indicative of homemade electronic gear that is far easier and less expensive to make than enclosed devices. For that matter, enclosed devices are more indicative of bombs. You've been watching too many movies.
The resulting publicity nationwide was more effective than a Super Bowl ad, and not that much more expensive (if Turner has to pay for the officers' $1 Million overtime). If they don't get slapped hard, some other creative geniuses might think it's worth the risk to do something similar.
Silly me... what was I thinking?... ;-)
" From what I've read they were silly toys and didn't resemble a bomb in the slightest. "
Beg pardon. Toys don't usually get left magnetically stuck under bridge abuttments with battery tubes and wires sticking out from them. It would be a stupid place for a toy, but an excellent place for a bomb.
Also, people who spend their time watching late-night cartoons for grownups may have recognized the character with its middle finger raised under a dark bridge, but the rest of us should be forgiven for finding it potentially menacing.
Have you forgotten that we live now in a world where there really are people who want to blow up our bridges and tunnels and shopping malls and elementary schools? 9/11 actually happened. It wasn't a dream. I lost a schoolmate on the second plane. He's still dead. As a consequence, we all have to be much more cautious about seemingly innocuous things. Hopefully, they will all be false alarms. But to think that attaching these things to public infrastructure shouldn't raise an eyebrow is naive. And to fail to think through the potential consequences of an action like this is negligent and highly irresponsible. It reflects a narcissistic self-indulgence that I'm afraid we can no longer afford.
I hate living in a state where I'm surrounded by liberals, but we're not yokels, and the authorities were reasonable and prudent in their response. The company responsible should pay all of the response costs, and the decision makers should pay very, very heavy fines.
But then ... it turned out that they were just little light-up signs. Perfectly harmless in both form and function. I have been somewhat put off by the scope of Boston's overreaction and the fearmongering and bad reporting by the media. "Security" doesn't mean locking down cities, rushing around, and blowing your top every time something a little unusual happens. It means effectively and efficiently employing limited resources to safeguard yourself. I think Boston's actions were grossly inefficient, and far more dangerous to our security than the guerilla marketer..
The difference is that the Lite-Brite is a familiar child's toy that is known to be harmless. A device using LEDs custom wired into a circuit board is an unfamiliar thing that is obviously constructed for a purpose.
By calling it a Lite-Brite, you are saying that it is a familiar child's toy. It is not. It is something else.
Or just how big is the Boston Mayor's office?
Another point from the article - "and to petition the FCC to pull the network’s license."
Turner Broadcasting (Cartoon Network included) is all cable cable if I'm not mistaken and I don't think the FCC has any authority over them. Maybe someone that knows more about this can help out here.
If from the guys who put them up, that is one thing, if it was from the advertising agency that is another whole different ball game.
It really must have upset the ad agency that for over two weeks their publicity stunt was not working in about 6 different cities. Maybe some idiot decided to get the ball rolling. Hard to image anyone that stupid, but ya never know.
I don't know about Europe, but I sure am.
"They were obviously stupid signs, but they had all the checklist items for "BOMB". "
Thank you for the sanity, gridlock. These things look a lot different when you know what they are than when they're stuck under a bridge abuttment. If someone were trying to desensitise the public to potential threats, they would probably be doing things like this, along with odd behavior on planes and plastering meaningless words and phrases in arabic around cities and campuses. (Campii?)
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