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.
Ugh - how rude you are!
The fact that these gadgets were not bombs is not the point we are making. It's the absolutely essential reaction of the police to the reports from concerned citizens we are discussing. The police HAD TO react - especially in the world we are living in today.
God forbid that there actually were some bombs out there and the police did nothing because they decided that it was only a hoax after finding a number of them. They had to check them all out even though it required extra man power and cost a lot of money. And YES, if there had been white powder involved - they would not have done due-dilligence if they did not go out and find every last one.
“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.
The AG is somewhat inarticulate, but nonetheless right on the money. The people who placed these devices had to know or should have known that they were going to create the reaction they did.
Toys don't usually get left magnetically stuck under bridge abuttments with battery tubes and wires sticking out from them.
I couldn't agree more.
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 can't add to it, so I'll repeat it!
Well done!
Agreed.
I keep seeing both sides of this though. Very stupid to put devices with menacing characters on them and wires hanging out on bridges and stuff...but when a cop discovers the first one and a foreign exchange student owns up it's a stunt for a TV show why don't the cops say take them all down immediately or go to jail, end of panic?
Once the cat is out of the bag, it is exceedingly difficult to get him back in.
It would have been better if the Boston Police did as you say, but it is not at all unforseeable that they would react as they did. They are a police department. Step One is to Protect Bystanders By Cordoning Off The Area. Step 52 is Stop And Think It Through.
The second you say "We're closing Highway 92", the immediate question is "Why?"
Throwies with one LED and an old motherboard battery have been reported to last up to two weeks. I don't know how battery energy scales from tiny Li batteries to big alkaline ones (though wiki has some ideas), but I suspect they had more than enough power to keep them running 24x7 for a couple of weeks.
Assuptions will make an ass of you yet. You have no way of knowing if that is true or not.
They placed them in about a dozen cities, some three weeks ago. This pretty much shows that Boston was stupid and only stupid people would think this a threat.
Throw the book at those on Madison Avenue who thought up this idea....Ted Turner and gang....CNN....and Time Warner.
If Turner gets a pass on this.....just phhoooey!
They've had their fun. Now pay the price.
How do you know this? Where I live it's legal to place advertizing on public property as long as it doesn't permantly deface the property. Thus you see clutters of signs by the side of the road, and even an occasional magnetic sign on metal poles and such, though those dont' seem to stay for long.
You mean they should have known that the Boston police were complete idiots? Or maybe they were counting on it? Please explain!!
There are regulations here about all outdoor advertising. You need a permit under state law, and the city puts all kinds of size, shape, height, etc. restrictions on it, varying by neighborhood. They also placed one in a public transportation station, and for that you not only need approval, you have to pay their rates.
OK, same question. Would you rather have it run for 2 weeks or 4 weeks? (or 4 weeks or 8 weeks, etc...) Putting off the day you have to throw away the sign by doubling the life by adding a 35 cent photo cell is a good investment.
oh my the gov't looks stupid and now wants to charge the marketers. how typical.
Do you think it is forseeable that the police will react to this as a threat? I don't mean to denigrate the Boston Police Department in particular, except to say they are a big city police department. Unknown suspicious devices are treated as threats until demonstrated otherwise. By the time they got to that point in this case, the cat was out of the bag.
This is all entirely forseeable. For all we know, the other nine cities reacted to these signs as a threat, but managed to remove them quietly. But somebody was going to hit the Big Red Button over these things. It was just a matter of time.
The gov't looks like they are just doing their job. They have nothing to be ashamed of, here. It's viral marketing idiots who look stupid.
I agree. The people placing these things are basically minimum-wage flunkies. But the ad agency, Interference Inc., knew exactly what it was doing. And that's precisely why they did it. These are not fly by the seat of your pants operations--at least, not at the level Interference operates. These guerrilla marketing campaigns are mapped to a fine point. They are every bit as sophisticated as any Madison Ave. traditional operation. Just different methods.
A key element of guerrilla marketing is making the tactics themselves a media phenomenon. The brass ring on these things is always to get the media to pick it up and do the heavy lifting for you. Tens of millions of dollars worth of free advertising. And they certainly got that here.
Worse, it's not just this cartoon show getting free ad airtime. Interference Inc itself is now getting tens of millions in free advertising. Whatever legal bills or fines it incurs will be well worth it to them. A minor cost of doing business. The numbers are being crunched in the basement of every start-up guerrilla marketing firm in the country. This is going to be a nightmare.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.