RSSYou Have Got to be Kidding … Hoax Devices part of Turner Broadcasting Cartoon Network Ad Campaign (Updates)
The nine devices that shut down Boston, MA this morning and after noon turn out to be 
nothing more than an ad campaign by The Cartoon Network. WTF. What were these mental migits thinking? Please tell me heads will roll, people fired and Turner Broadcasting will be sent the bill for all the police manpower that was wasted today.
“It’s a hoax — and it’s not funny,” Gov. Deval Patrick said. All of the devices are magnetic lights which resemble a character on the show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, on Turner Broadcasting’s Cartoon Network.
What kind of irresponsible fools do they have working at Turner Broadcasting? They put packages near subways, Interstates and bridges in a post 9–11 World. The City of Boston should be sending Turner Broadcasting a bill of fare.
BOSTON (AP) — 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.
(Drudge, At least one of the devices depicts a character giving the finger.)
Statement from Turner Broadcasting:
“The “packages” in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger. They are part of an outdoor marketing campaign in 10 cities in support of Adult Swim’s animated television show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Parent company Turner Broadcasting is in contact with local and federal enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they mistakenly thought to pose any danger.”
You fools!!! In a city in which airplanes flew from on 9–11, you would do such a stupid stunt. You wasted countless police, bomb and security officials time. “Mistakenly thought to pose any danger”? What planet do you people live on? Where have you been since September 11, 2001? Well you got the publicity you wanted as ever cable network was discussing your publicity stunt. Now its time you should pay for all the wasted security time.
UPDATE I: Arrest Made After ‘Suspicious Packages’ Paralyzed Boston as Part of Cartoon Network Marketing Campaign
Boston police said Wednesday night that one person had been arrested, and authorities scheduled a news conference later in the evening to provide details. (Fox News)
UPDATE II: Peter Berdovsky, 27, was arrested on one felony charge of placing a hoax device
Peter Berdovsky, 27, of Arlington, was arrested on one felony charge of placing a hoax device and one charge of disorderly conduct, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said later Wednesday. He had been hired to place the devices, she said.
Authorities are investigating whether Turner and any other companies should be criminally charged, Coakley said. It wasn’t immediately clear Wednesday who might have hired Berdovsky.
“We’re not going to let this go without looking at the further roots of how this happened to cause the panic in this city,” Coakley said at a news conference.
Berdovsky was arrested at 8:15 p.m. at his lawyer’s office, Coakley said. His lawyer’s name wasn’t available, and phone number believed to be Berdovsky’s did not accept messages.
Berdovsky planted many of the devices, Coakley said, although he is charged in connection with just one. He is to be arraigned Thursday in state court. (Yahoo News)
UPDATE III: If restitution is good enough for The Runaway Bride, Jennifer Wilbanks, its good enough for Turner Broadcasting.
The Runaway Bide was forced to pay $2500.00 in restitution to the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Department for wasting their time and man power to search for her in what turned out to be a hoax. The security scare, ad campaign hoax is estimated to cost Boston $500K. What’s the difference? The restitution bill can be sent directly to Turner Broadcasting.
The law under which Berdovsky was charged allows the state to pursue restitution. Mayor Thomas Menino said estimated the security scare may have cost the city more than $500,000.
At least 14 of the devices were found, and at least 24 more are still around the city, officials said. (Yahoo News)
UPDATE IV: Two men face charges after Boston security scare
Its nice that you are going after the two people that actually placed the devices. Now its time to go after the corporate suits who planned and okayed this debacle. There is no way in a post 9–11 world in the year 2007 that any thinking person would not comprehend the detrimental implications of such actions. If these marketing types are that ignorant to the present day facts, maybe they should not be employed.
BOSTON (Reuters) – Authorities plan to charge two men on Thursday after an elaborate publicity stunt — planting blinking devices that were mistaken for bombs — caused Boston’s biggest security scare since the September 11 attacks.
Sean Stevens, 28, and Peter Berdovsky, 27, were to appear in state court in Charlestown. They will face charges of placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct, according to state Attorney General Martha Coakley.
Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner Inc., late Wednesday said it was responsible for the devices, which had been installed in 10 major U.S. cities. The devices were intended to promote the “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” cartoon show.
Posted January 31, 2007 by Scared Monkeys Bizarre, Homeland Security, War on Terror, WTF | 30 comments |
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30 Responses to “You Have Got to be Kidding … Hoax Devices part of Turner Broadcasting Cartoon Network Ad Campaign (Updates)”
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Little does Turner Broadcasting relaize that they just created a new ad for South West Air … “Wanna Get Away”
R
I don’t like Boston and don’t like anyone from Ma ( voting for K & K took care of that) but I can see every citizen of Boston coming into some big money from Turner. Maybe enough to finish him off. You know, fear of going to work or shopping, all of the standard lawsuit bull that works. Maybe they will need the hero Edwards to channel their fears to the jury.
Red, I could add, little did Turner realize the just created a new South Park episode… LOL
I kind of looks like something I made on my ‘lite brite’ back in 74′.
I’m pretty sure mom found it and gave me a whoopin!
I am speechless (for 5 min) and then i yelled “ARE YOU OUTTA YOUR FREAKING MINDS?!!!
For the very reason mentioned above, to do this in Boston in a post 9-11 world will not be tolerated. Heads will roll here. Not only did this stunt cost the city tons of money, disrupting everyone’s lives but striking fear into everyone there in the city & the rest of us worried about them.
if this don’t go thru ARRRG
Oh please – Bostonians need to get a grip. The officials were ignorant of pop culture – that doesn’t mean a crime was committed.
Excerpt: “They have been in place for two to three weeks in Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia.”
It took “two to three weeks” for these devices to cause a panic?
Well i haven’t heard they were sitting arround 2 or 3 weeks but thats not the point. The placement of these thingys near bridges was outta line coz no one is gonna tell me that unattended packages near not even just 1 bridge but several bridges would cause a security alert.
oh please. stop over reacting
they were there for two weeks and in many cities
why should turner have to pay restitution. they didnt claim lies like the runaway bride. This is called ADVERTISING
many of my friends in boston and nyc spotted them for weeks
they werent “packages” they were light boards shaped as charachters
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SM: Over-reacting? Ask the people of Boston what they thought of this.
Over-reacting? I guess you missed the chaos that was caused by this incident in that it closed down a city where people could not even get to hospitals.
Turner Broadcasting will be paying restitution. The Mayor of Boston, MA will be bringing a law suit I am sure. Anyone that was damaged yesterday will be as well.
We live in a post 9-11 World … 9-11 occurred because we did not react to things that were right in front of us.
This is one of the stupidest marketing stunts ever, especially when anyone with a brain would know that anything suspicious would be deemed a potential terror threat. We see it play out every day.
R
pics of these have been all over local blogs in nyc and boston for two weeks,,,, this wasnt a top secret thing….mr red…. you think you are the blogs blog,,,,,how come you didnt pick that up…many blogs talked of these ADS and even encouraged people to go find more of the ads,.,,what a joke and of course we can always count on Red @SM to really overreact as usual
hey red…guess you and kluss spend to much time whining about aruba rather than keeping up on current events eh
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SM: You are a sad, envious and pathetic individual. Could you possibly have more ill in your heart?
You think we over-reacted, LOL. You are a troll.
The City of Boston was the one who was paralyzed by this incident as traffic was gridlocked for hours. If this was such a publicized event, why didn’t the police and city officials of Boston know of it? Hmmmm?
Over-reaction. You are the same kind of fool that would say that if someone didn’t react to potential terrorism and a horrible event happened where people were injured or died … you would complain the opposite.
Obviously this was not a known event or Boston police would not have reacted in the manner they did.
Heaven help Turner Broadcasting if anyone died yesterday because they could not get to a hospital in a timely manner because of the gridlock that this hoax caused.
R
I guess this new post 9/11 world has replaced the term “freedom from fear” with “freedom TO fear”.
Without question or peer, we have become the most frightened, suspicious and paranoiac people on the face of the planet and we don’t even know it.
Yet we allow simple things to slip through our security net, like leaving the borders wide open for God knows how many terrorists to dance through for going on the 6th year, Not profiling(which we should, eg. taking 80 yr old women for a vigorous and thorough shake-down treating them like garbage while Imams and their ilk laugh through the gates, the list goes on).
Yes, I think I will declare that post 9/11 we have gained the right of Freedom TO Fear each other.
Now if you will excuse me, it is about time for my two-minute hate.
PS
This is in line with the young child, I forget his age suspended for pointing his finger like a gun, or another case where the youngl schoolgirl had a bag that had “bomb” printed on it and the school not only suspended her but had the SWAT team called(?) Yep, Freedom TO Fear is here, apparently to stay.
For one theyre not “packages” its flat piece of plastic, two anybody with a semifunctioning brain would realize that its not a bomb but just a light bright of a figure giving the bird. Its not irresponsibility, its creative advertising.
This only shows that the indeed the terrorists are winning, when something benign and obviously non-threatening, cuases the morons in our society to go defecate themselves.
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SM: Would you be saying the same if this electronic gaget was a bomb and killed people? Who are you to determine what is and is not dangerous? Monday moring quarterbacking is really easy.
What exactly do you think a bomb looks like in 2007? All possible threats have to be checked, the consequences could be deadly if they were not. Everyone knows not to leave either packages, bags, or things that look suspect unattended. That is 9-11 “101″. That is why what these fools did was negligent.
R
Stupitiy at it’s height. Well the stunt worked and they have the recognition they wanted, at what cost?
We live in an era where there is just cause to be alarmed at blinking unattended packages etc.
If these were bombs and Boston did nothing what kind of hooting and hollering would we hear then, the same crying foul now would be asking for a commission to investigate how Boston did nothing.
Yep, get the money from the stuntsters.
So much for “THE LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BRAVE”. Yep, we live in a post 9-11 world alright. The best way to control any group of people no matter how large the group may be is to scare them. Too bad America is being reduced to a nation of chickens and as for terror, it has been around since the beginning of time. Maybe they should make the whole thing a sit-com and call it Boston SWAT vs. The Talking Milk Shake.
I think a big issue the media has overlooked in reporting this tacky publicity campaign gone wrong is the fact that these Lite-Brite-like circuit boards have been in place “for two to three weeks” and that gives rise to some questions the media should be asking.
If the devices looked suspicious enough to trigger a city-wide bomb scare yesterday, why did it take two to three weeks for authorities in Boston to notice them? And how could authorities not notice the placing of so many suspicious looking devices at so many sensitive locations? What if they had been explosive?
These are frightening thoughts.
Bodo…
I, for one, would have appreciated it if the general public WERE NOT told that these toys that were deemed something else were in place for that long a period of time. This information only serves to benefit those wishing to harm us, and we did not need to know this security breach or lapse at all.
During WWII, the emphasis on the homefront was keeping a tight lip, loose lips sink ships being the most famous motto although there were others. We were not as paranoid or foolish as we are today, of course, but we did practice perseverence and vigilance, unlike the standards of today.
Thanks, for nothing.
what security breach???? they were fricking light bright signs. ads…..a total over reaction
While some of you are right to notice that we don’t necessarily know what a bomb will look like in 2007 it could be a shoe, a stick of deodorant on a plane, or “device” left in a subway; in my opinion the police certainly overreacted. If the police acted on every suspicion that arose, the city would come to a standstill every day. Secondly, why all this emphasis on “unattended” packages. I live in New York where hundereds of thousands of people take the subway every day (like Boston), many carrying backpacks, duffel bags and sometimes large boxes. Any one of those objects could be an explosive in the hands of a suicide bomber. Discretion and judgement is more important now than ever. The “we live in a Post 9-11 world” and “what if it killed little kids” kneejerk rhetoric has its place. That place is on Fox News. In the case the police paniced. And shut down the city. Yet, since it is a large corporation who is culpable instead of a street artist using a “throwie” (the inspiration for the ad campaign) we find it easy to target them.
Everyone from Turner on down to the freaky looking “artists” should receive felony charges. People that film in cities typically have to get permits from the city government agencies. Permits for filming, parking of vehicles, etc. They should have provided maps for the locations of the signs and the means by which the signs were attached. What if one of the signs fell off and injured someone on the head? If these signs really do show the cartoon character flipping the “bird”, then they would probably never have been given permission by the city agencies. Stupid advertising and even more stupid 27 and 28 year old men agreeing to attach the signs. They both need haircuts and do a year’s worth of picking up trash along the streets of Boston. Ted Turner can join them!!
And, if it is true that bloggers out there knew about these signs in advance, then it was their duty to inform the police of potential hazards to people. Look at the reaction from the people of Boston. Don’t forget, 2 of the planes on 9/11 left Boston. Boston is a beautiful city and has wonderful people. I have lived there. Its a shame that this stupid advertising stunt happened to the City of Boston.
#20…what potential hazard????? you people are to much
my god there was a video circulating on the net long ago showing these things being put up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv9s_fz0K2I
wow….they look really scary…….duh
#20
you still dont know that thsi ad was done at the same time for the last tw-3 weeks in boston,phil, chicago, ny, la
where is the outrage in those cities??????????????
Red you make of course an over dramatic point that oooooh in a city that 911 jets flew from….well red ive lived in boston and i live in ny…….no outrage in ny….actually people are now making a game into finding where they had been placed…..GROW UP RED
sure turner will pay any rest boston asks……its just buying adv for them
#20
do you know that people were taking pics of these sending them to carton net and getting answers back to go look for more
again…2.5 weeks they were out there in MANY cities inc NYC…..Nobody says a word……now hysteria….shows how weak we are….whats next….hey any coke or pepsi machine could just be a bomb,,,,,they light up….electric…..could be a bomb….
Bye Bye GOP,
I agree it was and still is an overeaction, kinda like the one you are perpetrating at present for the other side of the proverbial coin.
And the security breach statement I posted seems to be a bit over your head(or too deep perhaps), but that’s neither here nor there.
BLAH BLAH BLAH to Bye Bye GOP!!!
If you knew about these devices beforehand, then you should have called the authorities to alert them. I’ll tell ya what, you go stand under one of them that was attached to a 2 story building or higher, have someone let it loose to hit you in your head and then get back to us with an update. If it doesn’t hurt, then try it again and again. Video it. I still say that someone from Turner, the ad agency or even those 2 clowns the “artists” should have checked with the city officials beforehand.
News Update:
Turner CEO apologizes for Boston scare. Made apology in full page ads in Boston newspapers. Thats a start! Boston mayor says estimated costs in Boston could be $500,000 and an additional $500,000 incurred for state police, MA Bay transportation authority and cities of Cambridge and Somerville. Apparently, some of the devices had wires hanging out of them. The 2 “artists” that placed the devices were amused by the situation after they were released on $2,500 cash bond. However, they face up to five years in prison. Well, people are responsible for their actions!!!
tazman….of course he did, the publicuty was woth whatver they donate to Boston
‘
Oh and news Flash for you: nothing will happen to the artists… The abusrd charges of placing a hoax device to incite panic…..well the govt has to prove they intended to cause a hoax and a panic….. they didnt they intended to place ads
horrilble the way it turned out
wasnt meant to
turner pays 500k
bfd!’
chaep for all the publicity
nothing can happen to thw two charged…read the chargesa,,,bet thet are dropped lonbg b4 court
the entire matrter just very unfotrtunate vut there as no intent to cause panic
2M AND EVERYONE LIVES HAPPY AFTER ALL
TURNERS HAPPY AS THE 2M IS FAR LESS THAN THEY WOULD HAVE HAD TO PAY ANY AD AGENCY AND BOSTONS HAPPY THEY LOOK LIKE THEY BEAT UP TURNER
HA! HA! BYE BYE GOP!!!
2M for Turner to pay up. A small sum indeed. Part of it goes to Homeland Security. Maybe your two “artists” can start picking up trash around Boston now.