Past Deadline

Must Explode TV! The Reckoning

It all works out in the end. And really, for just the cost of getting an omelet of egg on their faces, and becoming the butt of any number of Lite-Brite jokes, it should work out that Boston will make money off of its recent screaming panic over the appearance of Mooninite figures around town that were actually meant to be an ad for Cartoon Network's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" (at left, with said scary green character photoshopped in).

News sources are reporting that a settlement is going down over the incident; Turner Broadcasting (which owns Cartoon Network) and the marketing company that created the devices, Interference, Inc. are expected to pay out $2 million, half of which will go to the city agencies that were ordered by officials to treat the ads as if they were bombs, while the other half will go to homeland security and other related agencies.

Meanwhile, according to Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, the whole episode cost the city a mere $500,000.

So, a memo to city officials elsewhere: If you're fine with looking like Henny Penny, rather than carefully and quietly investigating homeland security related matters, you too can get corporations to cough up a bundle. It may cost you the mental security and well-being of your citizens, but eh. A few suggestions:

New York: Times Square advertising is overwhelming. Something must be suspicious. The Cup O'Noodles is smoking, for crying out loud!

Seattle: Is that really all fish you're scenting at the fish market? Perhaps Microsoft planted a few chips in the shrimp? You should check that out.

Los Angeles: The whole town is covered in a brownish scrim. Smog, some say -- I say go after the car manufacturers! That is a public safety issue! The terrorists could be hiding in the troposphere!

Washington, D.C.: Has anyone checked the Capitol cupola recently? Who painted it? Can we go after Sherman-Williams?

Who needs taxes? Hurrah, Mayor Menino, you've pocketed a cool half-million in less than a week for your city. I'm sure it will go to all the right places.

Meanwhile, Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, who were arrested in connection with the panic, are still waiting on a resolution. According to the CNN article linked above:

The attorney general's office also has begun discussions with the attorneys of two men charged in the incident.

Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28, were arrested Wednesday after the panic settled down. Both pleaded not guilty Thursday to placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct.

Coakley said the discussions with the pair's attorneys should result in a "resolution to the criminal charges" against them.

Wonder if they can squeeze out a couple thousand more ... you know, for the city.

--Randee Dawn

Must Explode TV! Part 2

So. Not a box. Or a "package." Or particularly suspicious-looking. This looks like a Lite-Brite project, and it does not look like anything that could be remotely considered bomb-like. Do bombs require C batteries?

But then again, I don't work for the Boston police force.

This is what the "boxes" that all but shut down Boston yesterday, but failed to ignite anything in Seattle, where they were located and simply removed, looked like. According to the Seattle Times:

When news of events in Boston began to be reported Wednesday, he said, the Seattle Police Department called and passed on the information about the locations of other devices.

McSwain and other officers removed three more of the devices from various locations, including an awning at a business, in a mini-mall and in front of another business.

The appearance of the devices indicated they weren't too sinister, with one officer describing them as a battery, a light and a cartoon character making an obscene gesture, McSwain said.

Three devices also were found in Bothell, police reported. Officers acting on information from the Seattle Police Department removed the devices and knew the devices were not a threat.

Seattle police also found several of the devices in the city but declined to reveal their location or how many there were.

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

In other words, they acted sanely. Maybe they have a few younger members on the force, who have actually seen the show.

Still, the real show came this afternoon from the two guys arrested for the Boston incident, Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, who held a press conference to discuss the grave importance of what they've done -- er, rather, retro hairstyles. You can watch the video here.

As noted in an addendum to the article next to the video:

In the clip above, the two gentlemen responsible for the placement of the lightboxes have some fun with the media frenzy, discussing various hairstyles of the 60s and 70s. The press accuses of them of not taking it seriously but, in a sense, they're taking it just as seriously as they ought to.

Emphasis mine.

Exactly.

-- Randee Dawn

Must Explode TV!

Well, it's not a show that's actually on Cartoon Network, but after today it could be. (Yes, we've doctored the picture.)

It is true that cartoons exist in an alternate universe, but the marketing and promotional ideas that promote them are firmly fixed in this reality -- which apparently was forgotten by the folks at Cartoon Network and Turner Broadcasting, and specifically one twentysomething marketer. (Who we suspect, once he's out of jail, will need to find more work.)

It appears that as part of a plan to promote Adult Swim's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," somewhere between 15-30 boxes were planted around Boston. (The campaign was also targeted at other major cities like Los Angeles, Seattle, New York and Portland.) But stray boxes with wires popping out of them these days seem less like a reason for curiosity and more like a possibility of something going all "24" on us at any moment.

In any case, once someone spotted a box near a major highway (hello? what kind of ad placement is that?) the bomb squad was called out, and they blew it up. Subsequent boxes were found all over the city, causing shutdowns, slowdowns, and a very busy day for the suspicious package crew.

TBS said in a statement, "The 'packages' in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger."

According to this report, the packages had been in place for two to three weeks. Weeks? So why has someone only just noticed in Boston?

Tonight an arrest was made of a 27-year old man from the Boston suburb of Arlington, and he's been charged with a felony -- and the Massachusetts attorney general has said he's considering charges against TBS, according to Fox News in New York.

There is the old saying that all publicity is good publicity, but I think we can make an exception in this case. So, note to all marketers: If your publicity campaign ends up calling out the bomb squad, then there's a good chance there really is a bomb there ... in your marketing strategy.

-- Randee Dawn

UPDATE: Gee, whiz, apparently I'm slow. The geniuses at Boing Boing are of course all over this and have targeted not only some very questionable journalistic ethics (the LED in the packages featured a Mooninite with an upraised finger which several media outlets are apparently photoshopping out. Plus, it's already possible to buy the LED Mooninite figure (yes, you'll have to watch the show and tell me just what the importance is on "Aqua Teen Hunger Force") on a T-shirt at  Raplica.com.

And he hasn't been photoshopped. I sense the conversation on this is just getting started.