Posted on 01/31/2007 6:45:54 PM PST by tobyhill
BOSTON - More than 10 blinking electronic devices planted at bridges and other spots in Boston threw a scare into the city Wednesday in what turned out to be a publicity campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. Most if not all of the devices depict a character giving the finger.
Boston police said Wednesday night that one person had been arrested, and authorities scheduled a news conference to provide details.
Highways, bridges and a section of the Charles River were shut down and bomb squads were sent in before authorities declared the devices were harmless.
"It's a hoax — and it's not funny," said Gov. Deval Patrick, who said he'll speak to the state's attorney general "about what recourse we may have."
Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner Inc. and parent of Cartoon Network, said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," a surreal series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball.
"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement, issued a few hours after reports of the first devices came in.
It said the devices have been in place for two to three weeks in 10 cities: Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia.
"We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger," the company said. As soon as the company realized the problem, it said, law enforcement officials were told of their locations in all 10 cities.
The marketing firm that put them up has been ordered to remove them immediately, said Phil Kent, Turner chairman.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I saw the pictures. It looked like a light brite with batteries.
Only a loon would have thought it was a "bimb".
Has Clouseau taken over the Boston security operations ?
I suspect master shake is behind this.
And only boston blew it's cork?
The box of fries (frylock) can also fly and shoots lasers out of his eyes.
Yes, they probably were high, but the show can be incredibly funny in a very ridiculous way.
The funniest thing to come out of this" Shepard Smith reported that Jack Cafferty on CNN actually said something to the effect that whoever the idiot was that did this they should be hung... then CNN found out it was Turner Broadcasting...
"...a surreal series about a talking milkshake, a box of fries and a meatball"
It's official. They're out of ideas.
It's actually one of the funniest shows in years.
It sort of appeals to a certain type of adult geek humor that is totally going to go past a lot of people, though.
Is this not calling " Fire" in a movie theater? They will get hit with a bill and many lawsuits is my guess. If they want publicity they will get it in spades.
Wow, what a crack team of LEO's we have out there that never found these devices.
Maybe they should start worrying about things like this instead of worrying about seat belt violators, smokers, jay walkers, etc, etc, etc.
Ask the Brits about the events of 7/7.
I saw it too but being it came from the Turner Broadcast Company they probably did intend it as a terror like joke. It was funny watching CNN report of the terrorist hoax not knowing it would turn out to be their own parent company.
Umm...they weren't trying to plant hoax bombs in hopes of scaring the public - probably never occured to them that anyone would possibly think they were bombs.
"How would the perpetrators feel about a stunt where something like letters are sent to their loved ones detailing how they where going to be kidnapped and killed?"
Gee, go out of proportion much?
It was basically a lite bright with a cartoon character on it.
Such letters would be overt threats. The only "threat" in this case was created within the fervid imaginations of Bostonians.
Gov. Deval Patrick - Ha ha! What a Maroon!
One more reason not watch television.
Well I imagine they had to arrest someone to cover up their stupidity. If it ever went to court, the jury wouldn't probably even need to leave the courtroom to talk about it. Their laughter would be answer enough.
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