Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Boston Scare Caused By Marketing Mistake
WNBC Television ^ | 02/01/07 | Puppage

Posted on 02/01/2007 5:02:47 AM PST by Puppage

BOSTON -- Nine 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 marketing campaign for a late-night cable cartoon. At least one of the devices depicts a character giving the finger.

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.

Turner Broadcasting, parent company of Cartoon Network, said the devices were part of a promotion for the TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."

"The packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger," Turner said in a statement. 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.

Police said only that they were investigating where the device came from. The Department of Homeland Security said there are no credible reports of other devices being found elsewhere in the country.

An angry Mayor Thomas Menino said a stiff penalty will be pursued against whoever was responsible for the devices.

"It's about keeping a city on edge. It's about public safety," he said.

Authorities said some of the objects looked like circuit boards or had wires hanging from them.

The first device was found at a subway and bus station underneath Interstate 93, forcing the shutdown of the station and the highway.

Later, police said four calls, all around 1 p.m., reported devices at the Boston University Bridge and the Longfellow Bridge, both of which span the Charles River, at a Boston street corner and at the Tufts-New England Medical Center.

The package near the Boston University bridge was found attached to a structure beneath the span, authorities said.

Subway service across the Longfellow Bridge between Boston and Cambridge was briefly suspended, and Storrow Drive was closed as well.

Wanda Higgins, a 47-year-old Weymouth resident and a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital, heard about the threat as she watched television news coverage while preparing to leave work at 4 p.m.

"I saw the bomb squad guys carrying a paper bag with their bare hands," Higgins said. "I knew it couldn't be too serious."

Messages seeking additional comment from the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network were left with several publicists.

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a cartoon with a cultish following that airs as part of the Adult Swim late-night block of programs for adults on the Cartoon Network. A feature length film based on the show is slated for release March 23.

The surreal series centers on a talking milkshake (Master Shake), fries (Frylock) and a meatball (Meatwad).

The cartoon also includes two trouble-making, 1980s-graphic-like characters called "mooninites," named Ignignokt and Err -- who were pictured on the suspicious devices. They are known for making the obscene hand gesture depicted on the devices.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: advertising; boston; hysteria; ignorethedevice; littering; postnobills
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 221-237 next last
To: DB

Wrong on both counts? Do you mean someone actually noticed, and stopped the 9/11 terrorists? Darn, I didn't hear about that. Here all this time, I thought they succeeded.


81 posted on 02/01/2007 6:35:20 AM PST by MizSterious (Anonymous sources often means "the voices in my head told me.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: DB
Being worried that "some how" free people put up electronic signs around an open city without being stopped isn't that frightening.

I'd agree with that. Certainly not something that could be or should be stopped, or worth worrying about.

But there's a fine line between vigilance and paranoia. Sometimes a vigilant public is going to report false alarms. They just will. But we have to be careful before we start discouraging people from reporting things that they see that "just don't look right". Of course it's a completely subjective standard, and different people will look at the same thing and have different instincts about it.

But its not paranoid, nor is it somehow giving victory to terror, for people to be able to decide that something looks out of place or suspicious... and to report it to those who can take a closer look. The overwhelming number of reports *will* be false alarms. That's just the game of numbers. Eventually, though, it will be the real deal. Then the person that was observant enough to react correctly will be called a hero. That's just the way of things.

82 posted on 02/01/2007 6:36:22 AM PST by Ramius ([sip])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: Puppage
Number one in the hood, G.


83 posted on 02/01/2007 6:36:25 AM PST by Constitution Day (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: CharlesWayneCT

You're exactly right.


84 posted on 02/01/2007 6:36:31 AM PST by khnyny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: DB
Bombs can be put in trash cans, newspaper dispensers, cars, light polls, planters, briefcases, backpacks, you name it. Most of those you have no chance at detecting before it is too late.
You can't live that way.


There is a big difference between looking everywhere all the time for bombs, and responding seriously to calls about suspicious devices planted at multiple locations. Yeah, a trash can could be a bomb, and if someone drops a big ticking package in a trash can and then starts running I want it to be reported and taken seriously. Yeah you could pack a light pole with C4. If someone calls the cops to report some strange characters doing something really odd to a light pole in the middle of the night I would want those cops to look into it with all seriousness.
85 posted on 02/01/2007 6:37:16 AM PST by TalonDJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: CharlesWayneCT
The city should have an ordinance against placing advertising on public spaces without a license.

I should have added in my previous answer that, in addition to the State Code, the City of Boston has numerous restrictions (size, height, etc.) that seem to vary by neighborhood, and -- frankly -- I got tired of looking.

86 posted on 02/01/2007 6:37:38 AM PST by maryz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: AD from SpringBay
Better watch out for everything then.

That old tire laying in the ditch, that beer can... They could all be bombs - every one of them... Let's shut down a city every time someone isn't sure...
87 posted on 02/01/2007 6:38:14 AM PST by DB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: longtermmemmory

I'm thinking Shake actually put Meatwad up to it.


88 posted on 02/01/2007 6:38:30 AM PST by OCCASparky (Steely-Eyed Killer of the Deep)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: longtermmemmory
The irony here is that Turner tought people knew this obscure cartoon. If anything, we should just simply ignore the show and the movie.

I'm sure Turner would think it would be hilarious if anti-Turner "marketing devices" were placed in selected movie theaters showing his movie.

89 posted on 02/01/2007 6:39:57 AM PST by Boston Blackie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: DB

Nope - just the stuff that looks like tee vee bombs.


90 posted on 02/01/2007 6:40:07 AM PST by AD from SpringBay (We have the government we allow and deserve.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 87 | View Replies]

To: DB
It won't come anywhere near taking down a big bridge sitting on the side of it nor even a building.

Not entirely accurate. Besides, when the cops were called, how were they to know there was one on the bridge and not 4 or 8? A handful at strategic points could bring down a bridge.
91 posted on 02/01/2007 6:40:14 AM PST by TalonDJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]

To: Puppage
I read the best post about this:

"It used to be, if a terrorist wanted to bring a whole city to its knees it would take a group months of planning. ... Now days, all a terrorist has to do is leave some boxes lying around with some flashy lights, and suddenly the whole city is brought down. Terrorism has gotten so easy, people everywhere are doing it by accident."

92 posted on 02/01/2007 6:40:28 AM PST by antiRepublicrat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Puppage

What an overreaction. 9 other cities including New York have these things up and there is no incident. In Boston, of course, it becomes a logistical nightmare. They should arrest the nitwit who called 911.

We have 2-3 murders per week here and they buy some stupid gunshot locating system, when they find blinking lego sets they call in the SWAT team and make everyone's life miserable for 4 hours.

Then they say that people should take solace in the fact that they found such devices. Um, the things have been up for 2 weeks!

Who was the last bomb builder to make a bomb with a bunch of blinking lights and place it in the open for everyone to see?

Menino is a buffoon.


93 posted on 02/01/2007 6:40:47 AM PST by Conservomax (There are no solutions, only trade-offs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Constitution Day
(Chorus 2x) Check it out y'all!
Check it, Check it out!

Don't be afraid when I turn the party out
cause I come from the moon and I carry all the clout.
I got a quad-laser, it will amaze ya.
My gizzat is phizzat, so won't you just step back

(chorus 2x)

We're the Mooninites and you know that we're back.
Everybody else in the house know that they wack.
Three in the morn, I'm looking for the porn.
Know that we free so get on your knees.

(Chorus 3x)

We don't give a damn yo this is who we be.
Just like the old school Rapper Schoolly D.
Mooninite one I'm a hard rap singer.
Mooninite two Yo, I'll flip you the finger

(Chorus 11x)



Mooninites Theme
Meatwad Sings the Mooninites Theme
94 posted on 02/01/2007 6:41:33 AM PST by Wormwood (Your Friendly Neighborhood Moderate)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 83 | View Replies]

To: Ramius
Don't get me wrong.

My beef is with the government's response, not whomever was concerned or reported it.

There's any number of reason why those putting up the signs illegally should be sought.

But it is a wholly different thing for professionals that are trained to recognize actual threats to shut down a city over this.
95 posted on 02/01/2007 6:42:13 AM PST by DB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 82 | View Replies]

To: Smokin' Joe
Oh yeah, the dummys who put these things out were stupid not to anticipate an overreaction by the nitwits who inhabit Boston.

I might think differently if the "ads" were not so blatently cheesy. Sure, if I wanted to plant bombs over a wide area I am going to make them stand out with blue lights and put them in plain sight so that they are easily identified.

Although I certainly enjoy seeing Ted Turner and his org squirming, it was not them who ran the advertising campaign. It was a small marketing agency without too many brains. The catch is that the marketing firm does not have deep pockets and Turner does. In addition, there are already plenty of people laughing at the overreaction of Boston to the immediate media hype and the village idiots up there want to look like adults again.

96 posted on 02/01/2007 6:42:21 AM PST by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MizSterious
http://www.gordon.army.mil/tsc/DEVICES/new%20devices/New%20Devices%20Browser/images/FGD-09-1862(B).jpg

If you see a soda can, look out! Soda cans have been used as IEDs in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and American casualties have resulted from their detonation. There is a wire on this one because it's command detonated, but a soda can IED could have a timer or radio trigger, or be set to explode when moved or kicked.

If you observe a soda can in an area where people pass by or congregate, or unattended in a food court, contact authorities immediately. Do not attempt to move or defuse the device yourself. Calmly advise everyone in the area to leave quietly until the bomb squad has cleared the device.

A soda can without an explosive or timer may be a hoax device intended to frighten you, so do not panic when you see a soda can. But it may not be a hoax- act responsibly!

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/images/ied-iraq_soda-can.jpg
97 posted on 02/01/2007 6:44:16 AM PST by DBrow
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: Miss Marple

No, he's right, it was an overreaction.

The advertisers aren't the only ones who need to know better in a post 9-11 world.

My opinion might be different if i didn't have to sit in traffic for 3 hours yesterday.


98 posted on 02/01/2007 6:44:37 AM PST by Conservomax (There are no solutions, only trade-offs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: TalonDJ

I have an idea for how to place a bunch of bombs around Boston and be pretty certain that the bomb squad won't come and disturb them...

It wasn't a very good idea before, but it sure is now...

:-)


99 posted on 02/01/2007 6:44:43 AM PST by Ramius ([sip])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: MizSterious

You directed that at me.

"people like you would have laughed them out of the room"

Not the 911 event.


100 posted on 02/01/2007 6:46:02 AM PST by DB
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 221-237 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson