Poor Adult Swim/Cartoon Network

[Shauna]

lol, so i know all of you have heard about poor Cartoon Network and Adult Swim getting slammed with like 500k worth of damages :P poor guys, and all over an image that doesnt even look like a terrorist device. its sad really :< anyone else think its a bit rediculous on what happened??

the story for those who dont know:

Boston terror scare sparked by Cartoon Net ad lighting
By Paul J. Gough

Feb 1, 2007
NEW YORK -- A marketing campaign for Cartoon Network's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" turned into a daylong terrorism scare for the city of Boston and a public relations nightmare for Turner Broadcasting System Inc. over a bunch of blinking boxes that were mistaken for bombs placed around the city and elsewhere nationwide.

Major disruptions occurred throughout metropolitan Boston, beginning at 8 a.m. and then in the afternoon, as calls came in about suspicious-looking devices attached to bridges, roadways and even at an MBTA bus station. Police arrested Peter Berdvosky, 27, of Arlington, Mass., on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct and said he would be arraigned today in Charlestown District Court. At a news conference late Wednesday, city and state officials vowed legal action all the way up the line to Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta for what one official called "a reckless stunt."

"It is unconscionable that in this post-9/11 environment that Turner Broadcasting would do something like this in an urban setting. ... Perhaps next time they'll think twice about an ad campaign that puts a city at risk," Boston Police Superintendent Ed Davis said. Turner Broadcasting apologized twice Wednesday in written statements, saying that the "magnetic devices that pose no danger" had been placed in 10 cities -- including Boston, New York and Los Angeles -- to promote Adult Swim's "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" animated series.

The laptop-size blinking lights in the shape of "Hunger Force" characters Err and Ignignokt caused the chaos and emergency response. Police said that five of the eight looked the same but that two others looked much different, in what Davis called resembling "conventional pipe bombs." A Turner source said Wednesday night that they weren't made to look like pipe bombs. Davis said in a news conference late Wednesday that police initially weren't sure whether they were dealing with a series of real explosive devices and then decoys.

Turner said there were 40 boxes situated around Boston, though it wasn't clear whether that included the eight that caused the scare. There are a number of others in nine other cities. Turner said the purpose of the marketing campaign was solely to promote the animated series.

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Turner Broadcasting said that executives realized Wednesday afternoon that its marketing campaign -- which sources said was carried out by New York-based guerrilla marketers Interference Inc. -- were being mistaken for bombs and notified federal law enforcement officials that they were harmless.

"We apologize to the citizens of Boston that part of a marketing campaign was mistaken for a public danger," TBS chairman and CEO Phil Kent said. "We appreciate the gravity of this situation and, like any responsible company would, are putting all necessary resources toward understanding the facts surrounding it as quickly as possible."

Kent said Turner "deeply regrets" the incident. Turner declined to make Kent or any other executives available for interviews. Interference Inc.'s founder didn't respond to calls and e-mails Wednesday afternoon.

A livid Boston Mayor Thomas Menino late Wednesday promised legal action against Turner Broadcasting and others responsible for the campaign.

"It is outrageous, in a post-9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme," Menino said. "I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today's incidents."

It wasn't clear how much the emergency response cost, but it involved the city, Massachusetts state police, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and others. Estimates range in the millions.

Although the incident involved a cartoon, no one in Boston was laughing in a daylong law-enforcement effort that closed roads and bridges in nine areas around Boston, Brighton, Somerville and Cambridge. An area around the Tufts-New England Medical Center was briefly evacuated as local, state and federal authorities scrambled to unearth and then probe the packages around the city. The U.S. Coast Guard also closed a stretch of the Charles River from Boston Harbor for a time.

The first suspicious package was found shortly after 8 a.m. EST Wednesday on Interstate 93 north in Boston. The package, which was attached to a steel beam, led to a closure of the busy highway during the height of rush hour; two hours later, the city's bomb squad blew it apart. It later was determined to be harmless but constructed similarly to an improvised explosive device.

Interference Inc. has been referred to as having expertise on "Page Ranking-generating stunts" and has worked for CNN and HBO (both Time Warner-owned along with Turner Broadcasting) as well as Discovery Channel, Nickelodeon, General Electric and Godiva. But no one at the company responded to a detailed phone message and e-mail. Turner said all of the advertisements were being taken down immediately, regardless of the location.

"We're not playing around. This is about keeping a city on edge," Menino said. "It's about public safety, and when it comes to public safety, we're throwing everything we have at it." He later told WBZ-AM that he would "throw the book" at Turner and said it is a felony punishable of up to five years in prison.

Boston has been the subject of terrorist threats in the recent past and had a role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The two groups of terrorists who commandeered the planes that hit the World Trade Center towers started the day's journey on planes that took off from Boston's Logan Airport.

Wednesday's events were fodder for cable news all morning and afternoon, including Turner Broadcasting's CNN, which had several live shots of the emergency response well before it was learned that Cartoon Network and Adult Swim were responsible.



^ what was placed....

HOW DOES THAT LOOK LIKE SOMETHING TERRORIST RELATED?

looks like a Light Bright to me. People can be such sissypated, pantywaisted, scary girlypunks sometimes.

[KiraRin]

I have to say, after everything that has happened, I applaud the actions of the police.

I can see how it doesn't look like a terrorist device at night, all bright and twinkly, but how would it look in the daytime? It would be a box with lots of wires coming out of the side of it. Bomb like.

I hope the people that thought a prank like this would be a great idea get everything that is coming to them. The general public is already terrified about another 9/11 or 9/9 happening, and stunts like this do not help.

H.

[cyberbeing]

Originally Posted by CNN.COM

Judge Paul K. Leary told Grossman that, according to law, the suspects must intend to create a panic to be charged with placing hoax devices.

It appears the suspects had no such intent, the judge said, but the question should be discussed in a later hearing.

-SNIP-

Turner said the devices have been in place for two or three weeks in Boston; New York City; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Atlanta, Georgia; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Austin, Texas; San Francisco, California; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

However, only in Boston did the light boards create such a furor. In Seattle and several suburbs, the signs were removed without fuss, according to The Associated Press.

"We haven't had any calls to 911 regarding this," Seattle police spokesman Sean Whitcomb told AP on Wednesday.

Police in Philadelphia told AP that authorities had confiscated 56 of the devices. In New York, a street was shut down for 45 minutes after two of the devices were found on an overpass, the New York Post reported. In all, 41 of the devices were found in the city, according to the newspaper.

In Portland, police Sgt. Brian Schmautz said officers had no plans to remove any of the signs, so long as they weren't on municipal property. Nor had officers been dispatched in any kind of bomb scare related to the devices.

"At this point we wouldn't even begin an investigation, because there's no reason to believe a crime has occurred," Schmautz said.

In Boston, however, state, local and federal authorities on Wednesday shut down the Boston University and Longfellow bridges, and blocked maritime traffic from the Charles River into Boston Harbor. Bomb squads scrambled throughout the city and its suburbs, snarling traffic and mass transit in the city.

Coakley and Menino did not rule out the possibility of criminal charges, or a civil suit to recoup what they say is the hundreds of thousands of dollars the city spent to respond to the bomb scares.

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the legal department is sending Turner a letter asking the company to reimburse the city for all costs incurred during the incident, but the authority had no plans to unilaterally file a lawsuit.

-SNIP-

Twenty-two-year-old Todd Venderlin, a design student at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, saw one of the devices two weeks ago as he left a lounge in south Boston, according to The Boston Globe. He said he was stunned when he saw bomb squads removing them.

"It's so not threatening -- it's a Lite-Brite," he told the newspaper, referring to the children's toy that allows its users to create pictures by placing translucent pegs into an opaque board. "I don't understand how they could be terrified. I would if it was a bunch of circuits blinking, but it wasn't."

Boston's clearly over-reacted to the whole thing compared to the other nine city's that had these things placed for advertising. Once they realized this they were probably like "OH SH*T, we just spent hundreds of thousands of dollar sending our bomb squad all over the city for something we knew was completely harmless. That pisses us off, somebody better reimburse us for all the money we didn't need to spend to take care of the situation."

Originally Posted by KiraRin

I hope the people that thought a prank like this would be a great idea get everything that is coming to them. The general public is already terrified about another 9/11 or 9/9 happening, and stunts like this do not help.

IMO Boston's officials blaming 9/11 is a bad excuse for justifying their bad judgment and wasting taxpayer dollars. In the US the general public is not living in fear that another 9/11 is going to happen, everybody has moved on and back to living their normal lives. After they took down (and blew up) the first one and found out it was just a harmless sign they could have just kept there cool and sent the normal police force to take the rest down. This wasn't a prank or a hoax just a advertising campaign run by a third party company hired by Turner to advertise Aqua Teen Hunger Force in major cities across the USA. As the judge said they can't be charged for a hoax if that wasn't their intention and they were just doing their job. The most I could see happening are a lot littering/graffiti tickets being issued.

[KiraRin]

How can you say its an overreaction? Travelling through London, people are noticably uncomfortable on the underground, because of what has happened in the past.

An asian guy gets on with a rucksack over his shoulder, and people are eyeing him suspiciously. I'm not saying this is right, but it is what happens. People do not forget something so easily.

What if the devices were something more sinister? And the police hasn't made such a big fuss? I'm sure everyone would rather an overreation for something that doesn't transpire, rather than little or no reaction to something much more devastating.

Though, saying this, please bear in mind the line of work I'm in and how safety critical we are ;P

H.

[seorang]

I get why Boston overreacted, but why sue Adult Swim/Cartoon Network?

[aceman67]

Oh Please! I cant believe this happened. This is a prime example of how prevalent paranoia exists in US society from the perspective of an Outsider (Someone living in another country).

I also feel my Avatar is appropriate for this topic.

Damn funny though. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Rules!

As for why they would sue Turner broadcasting? Cause they paid for it and gave the go ahead.

Although, I do understand the comment that "The devices were harmless but constructed similarly to an improvised explosive device"

The components needed to both light up the LED's, and make them flash in sequence could easily be mistaken for a timing device of a bomb, but not to trained experts, which only makes this incident more idiotic.

[Infinity]

I lol'd; I'd also love to have one of those signs

[Kolyce]

Originally Posted by KiraRin

I have to say, after everything that has happened, I applaud the actions of the police.

I can see how it doesn't look like a terrorist device at night, all bright and twinkly, but how would it look in the daytime? It would be a box with lots of wires coming out of the side of it. Bomb like.

I hope the people that thought a prank like this would be a great idea get everything that is coming to them. The general public is already terrified about another 9/11 or 9/9 happening, and stunts like this do not help.

H.

I can't share your fear, I live in a country which has yet to be the target of a successfull terrorist attack.

The network should have informed the officials about such a Page Ranking campaign.

[prh99]

Boston was the only one of several cities that had an extreme reaction and by then the signs were in place for a few weeks already. Somehow I don't think a terrorist would go through the trouble putting an LED moonnite on there bomb leaving it in place for a fews weeks and risk called attention to it. Even after discovering what the devices really are they persist in calling them hoax devices:

STATEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL MARTHA COAKLEY REGARDING ONGOING SETTLEMENT DISCUSSIONS WITH TURNER BROADCASTING & INTERFERENCE, INC.

The Attorney General’s Office, on behalf of the various state and local agencies who responded to the hoax device scare earlier this week, is engaged in ongoing discussions with those parties and with Turner Broadcasting and Interference, Inc., regarding restitution of claims and issues raised by Wednesday’s events. As has been reported, Turner Broadcasting has offered to pay restitution and other costs associated with the response and investigation, and the company has been very cooperative with our office. At this time, we believe we are close to reaching finality in a resolution of this matter.

We have also begun discussions with the attorneys for the two defendants who were arraigned yesterday in connection with the placement of the hoax devices regarding a resolution to the criminal charges.

Obviously, there are a number of parties involved in these negotiations, all of whom must meet agreement on any settlement. Due to the complicated nature of these negotiations, as well as our desire to reach a conclusion that is fair and appropriate for all of the agencies involved, and is in the best interests of the Commonwealth, we will meet on Monday, February 5, 2007, and we hope to finalize amounts and arrangements. A public announcement of the settlement should be made shortly after the parties are in agreement.

This just reeks of incompetence.

Also consider that someone actually made hoax pipe bombs and planted them and they have yet to make an arrest or press charges despite having a good idea who was responsible.
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRe...ticleid=180349

Inconsistent reactionaries....glad I don't live in Boston cause they'd obviously rather sue Turner than follow up on an actual crime.