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Author
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Topic: Cartoon Network Bomb Threat
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Paburrows
Member
Member # 3300
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posted
Anyone hear about this? From what I gather Cartoon Network in Atlanta was doing some sort of advirtising stunt for Adult Swim that involved a bomb threat.
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http://paulburrows.blogspot.com/
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Christian
IE # 211
Member # 3132
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posted
Sounds like the Aqua Teen Hunger Force thing.
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MutantPenguin
Member
Member # 3296
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posted
Yes, animation advertising is a "public danger".
A bigger article here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16902707/
The characters in question are (mentally)juvenile pranksters. Coincidence... yeeeeeah...
The most surprising thing about this article to me was that Aqua Team Hunger Force is going to have a movie!?
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Easy Zee
Member
Member # 3201
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posted
Absolutely freakin’ ridiculous. Is the Boston police force, Boston government and the bomb squad full of complete idiots? It looks like a light bright, not a bomb. I’ve never heard of a terrorist leaving a bomb with a smiling happy face on it. What is this world coming to? What’s next? Are they going to announce that they killed Bin Laden, then later realize they made a mistake, it was actually Sponge Bob Square Pants? They keep calling them “devises” on the news. They’re NOT devises! They’re freakin’ light brights! I have a bunch of old star wars vehicle models, which I added electronic L.E.D’s to, so that the ships light up. If I toss those to the curb, should I get arrested if some moron mistakes it for a bomb? The government and local law officials don’t want to look like idiots, so they are making arrests. These ads don’t look anything like bombs to me, or any other of my friends with any intelligent and common sense. They used the exact same ads in ten other cities and none of those other cities were stupid enough to think they were bombs.
Yes; the advertisers or the cartoon network should have come out earlier to clear up the mistake.
Yes; they should have had permits and given notification to place the ads.
Yes; the location of at least 2 of the ads was in a place that was probably meant to look suspicious.
But, the over reaction by the police and government, and the complete absurdity of the situation completely trumps anything that the advertisers did wrong.
Is there not at least one person on the entire Boston police department or in the Boston government that has ever seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force? You don’t even need to know the show, to see that it just looks like a light bright. Much of the USA is steeped in paranoia, distrust and fear. Common sense and pragmatic objectivity is lost.
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Fooksie
IE # 239
Member # 331
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posted
The same thing happened with the " Mission Impossible 3 " publicity stunt.
C'mon, think, McFly!
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" Every move a picture! "
Buddy Love
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BeltaneTheBat
IE # 209
Member # 3163
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posted
Better be save than sorry! In today's climate you can't blame anybody for being careful.
The "light brights" made world-wide news. Great publicity if you ask me.
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Re vera, cara mea, mea nil refert.
http://umbackagain.blogspot.com
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toonstruck
Member
Member # 1846
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posted
This seems like a really dumb way to advertise anything. I agree with Beltane. In today's world, you are just asking for trouble to do a stunt like this.
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BeltaneTheBat
IE # 209
Member # 3163
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posted
Hey Jason,
That vid rocks! Geat idea, good execution, but what stopped them from getting a permit to do that?
Don't frighten Joe Public! Believe it or not. Most people do not spend their lives thinking about cartoons.
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Re vera, cara mea, mea nil refert.
http://umbackagain.blogspot.com
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tstevens
IE # 234
Member # 801
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posted
Guerilla advertising is the next big thing after viral advertising.
THe industry has evolved to the point where the public is shutting out traditional advertising so ad agencies are trying to slide thier messages into your face any way they can. Part of the reason why these advertisers are going in this direction is because of the slow decline in the popularity of traditional mediums like TV and newspaper. If you look at the number of :30 spots created for national TV it has slowly been going down over the last decade. Another call for alarm is that very few Americans actually read a physical newspaper at all. With those two sources becoming less reliable for advertisers they have gone into new directions.
For the most part I think campaigns like this are run by creatives looking out for thier own egos than for thier clients sales. The ironic part is that someone at Cartoon Network bought into that and likely paid a pretty hefty bill to have someone place these things in different cities around the US.
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http://www.foogersnarts.blogspot.com
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Methuselah
IE # 148
Member # 401
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posted
quote:
Is there not at least one person on the entire Boston police department or in the Boston government that has ever seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force? You don’t even need to know the show, to see that it just looks like a light bright. Much of the USA is steeped in paranoia, distrust and fear. Common sense and pragmatic objectivity is lost.
Cut us a break!
Common sense is what it would take to realize that it's more than likely that an explosive device designed to cause civilian casualties would in all probability be designed to look innocuous--dare I say, like a cute kid's toy?
Does anyone think a real bomb or IED would have had a proper labeling of BOMB written on it, or be designed more like what a bomb's "supposed" to look like? Like, say, a bundle of dynamite with an alarm clock attached?
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
Come on! The only stupidity here is the idiots who thought that putting these things anonymously in public places like under walkways and bridges was a clever idea. Yes, they got "advertising"--and some advertising isn't worth it. This is akin to the "ticking" publicity things that were sent to taletn agencies & studios to promote one of the MI films(or whatever that was). Why should the terrorism task force of Boston watch this show, or be aware of it--is that part of their job? I'm an animator and I've seen about 1 & 1/2 eps. I wouldn't have had a clue that these things were CN products.
The botttom line is, is isn't what they designed, it's WHERE they placed them and HOW(anonymously) that made for a silly, dangerous mess. I hope they DO have some kind of book thrown at them.
I'll gladly stay with good ol' USA "paranoia, distrust and fear" if it means avoiding unattended bags or backpacks in public places and strange, "arty" objects with no explanations attached.
Call me crazy, but I think there's good precedent for worry and alarm in such cases. Boston cops have NOTHING to be embarrassed about. ![[unimpressed]](graemlins/unimpressed.gif)
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SoleilSmile
IE # 120
Member # 1483
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posted
The title of this thread scared the heck out of me! In a panick, I just emailed one of my estranged friends at CN thnking that she was in danger.She wrote back to assure me that she was ok and there was some kind of Boston publicity stunt. I knew I shoulda read the posts of this thread first.
Still...
Be more detailed in your thread titles next time!
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HipChick Comics and Animatress Blog
www.hipchickcomics.com
http://www.animatress.blogspot.com/
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Jasen
IE # 129
Member # 2721
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posted
What would someone think if they saw a Rob Zombie type of guy running around putting up this weird thing with a character giving the middle finger over one of the city’s main bridges that looks nothing like an advertisement?
Does anyone remember a few years back when there was a kid putting pipe bombs all over several states?, his goal… was to make a smiley face across the U.S. inspired by the movie, Fight Club. ![[freak]](graemlins/freak.gif)
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http://jasenstrong.artstooge.com/
http://jasenstrong.blogspot.com/
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scaredofbees
IE # 194
Member # 2726
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posted
I think if they had wanted to do this type of guerrilla advertising, they should have sought permission from the city. Failing that, they could've just plastered posters of the character everywhere. Nobody would have mistaken it for anything other than a poster and the worse they would have gotten was a littering citation.
I just saw a clip of these two guys at a press conference after their release. Instead of fielding questions from the media, they were going on about 70's haircuts. Wow, they're sooo cool and irreverent! </sarcasm> Seriously though, I'm sure they meant no harm, but it caused a good deal of commotion, and warranted or not, they should at least be mature about it and apologize for the trouble instead of making jokes.
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Matt Wilson
IE # 139
Member # 1520
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posted
The stunt was not a bomb threat, they were just LITE BRITES with Adult Swim characters on them. It wasn't a box, or a package, or anything that could have housed an explosive device; it was a rectangular, flat LED.
They had been placed in 10 cities two or three weeks ago, and only Boston had the bravery to run around with its head cut off for absolutely no reason. Turner called the PDs of every city to have them removed the SECOND there was a concern, and yet the mayor wants the two who were paid to place the ads around town to be sentenced to 5 years PER SIGN!! Unbelievable.
It is pretty clear there was no intent, the judge even said so. If you only heard about this by watching Fox News or CNN, you're not getting the full story.
The best thing out of all of this was the press conference of the two artists, who completely ignored the reporters and discussed 1970s hairstyles with each other at the podium. It's amazing to watch the media choke on their own foot.
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mbaker
Member
Member # 2012
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posted
Another black eye for cartoons. I'm sure this incident will further perpetuate the stereotype that people who continue to watch cartoons beyond their 'childhood' years are arested developments who might become potential terrorists. I guess the network execs were right all along. 'Silly rabbit, cartoons are for kids.'
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toonstruck
Member
Member # 1846
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posted
Matt, in a day and age where we are asked to notify police of suspicious packages, isn't this suspicious? Maybe it wasnt a package, but depending on where it was placed, it may look very out of place and cause people to be alarmed. Explosives are small enough to fit in this thing.
I don't think the people should go to jail or anything more than a slap on the wrist. But, this kind of crap shouldn't be done unless they get approval first.
Cartoon Network got what they wanted.. Publicity. Just a shame they had to get it in this manner.
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tstevens
IE # 234
Member # 801
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posted
"It wasn't a box, or a package, or anything that could have housed an explosive device; it was a rectangular, flat LED."
Explosives can be placed into anything. That is why the paranoia is such. It doesn't take a whole lot to blow something up. Just for the sake of arguement though, the objects in question were plenty big enough to house enough explosives to kill a person (think of a flat letter bomb).
Like I said before. These types of creative stunts have more to do with the egos of the creatives than they do with promoting thier clients. I am sure that the marketing firm will get more mileage out of this than CN. And like others have commented, I couldn't have told you that the character represented on the object was from the show.
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monkeydad
Member
Member # 1566
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posted
"the mayor wants the two who were paid to place the ads around town to be sentenced to 5 years PER SIGN!!"
Ah yes, the old "we got scared, so you have to pay" sentence...
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inneryoung
Member
Member # 3371
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posted
although I think the media takes everything a bit too far, it's easy to see how this little incident could become a big messy deal. I mean first a bunch of people notice these suspicious things, call it in, then the PD is forced to investigate, which involves stopping traffic, then everyone else wants to know why traffic was stopped, etc etc.
Do you think the reason they didn't get a permit for these is probably because they figured they wouldn't receive permission to display an ad with a character flipping the bird on it? That alone is pretty distasteful, and I think they deserve a heavier punishment than the one for posting an ad without a permit, because it wasn't just an ad, but an obscene one.
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Animagus
IE # 49
Member # 279
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posted
quote:
Easy Zee said: I’ve never heard of a terrorist leaving a bomb with a smiling happy face on it.
With no disrespect to the Boston Police or anyone, doesn't it sound like a bomb planted by a character in a "Batman" movie or T.V. show?
"Holy Hasbro! A Lite-Brite!"
I mean it. If I didn't know better, I'd say that Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson planted them. What a great way to promote "The Dark Knight".
I understand erring on the side of caution, but traditional terrorists are usually trying to further the Jihad or something. I've never heard of them having this kind of a sense of humor. Osama usually appears in video or audio tapes, threatening us in Arabic. I've never heard of him, say, giving us a series of riddles to solve. I don't want to offend anyone, and I hope I haven't. Oh, well. Tune in tommorow.
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www.robertgold.blogspot.com
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Mr. Fun
IE # 63
Member # 352
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posted
Be afraid, be very afraid.
Boy, we've become a nation of wimps -- scared of our own shadow. In other nations bombs go off on a daily basis, and brave people try to go on with their lives. However we who live in relative peace and safety see danger around every corner.
The problem is, with the exception of our armed forces, most Americans have never seen war up close and personal. So, we react fearfully at every real or imagined threat.
Now, we freak out over dumb cartoon show ads. What a sad commentary on all of us.
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Matt Wilson
IE # 139
Member # 1520
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posted
This story just gets weirder. Apparently earlier in the day there was a simulated pipe bomb found underneath a hospital. The person was identified (a former hospital employee), but not charged with anything. Not charged with anything, folks.
Something I didn't mention earlier. These ads weren't intended to look like bombs or to look like "sinister devices." They were just supposed to be signs. Adult Swim has done similar wall-tagging in the past; they had professional graffiti artists spraying likenesses of their characters in certain cities a year or two ago -- likely with permission.
Based on the extremities of the two situations, I would say the Boston police knew what was an actual threat-- a realistic pipebomb hidden inside of a hospital-- and which was not-- lite brite signs placed in very public places-- and they simply removed the Aqua Teen signs as a precaution, and Turner even assisted them in doing so.
But then the media decided to latch onto the latter of the two and inflate it to absurd proportions, and so now people have to be held accountable for the BPD and Fox News turning a molehill into a mountain; people other than BPD and Fox News, of course.
Chances are the two guys arrested will get off easily since there was no intent and, really it should be Turner that has to face any punishment and not the people they hire (or the people those people hire). And in six months, we'll forget this ever happened.
These have been a very weird but hilarious 48 hours.
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Fooksie
IE # 239
Member # 331
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posted
Nobody remembers the Olympics here in Atlanta with the harmless looking knapsack filled with explosives, nails, and screws?
Hind sight is always 20/20.
I think it was a stupid stunt.
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" Every move a picture! "
Buddy Love
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Charles
Administrator
Member # 7
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posted
Why not hang that promo around the guys who did it and send them walking through some of those Boston neighborhoods.
If this is what promotion for an animated TV show has fallen to, I happily return my membership card in this business.
I'm not the only one tired of flip offs, incivility, stupidity, rudeness and meanness as something that's supposed to be cool.
Animation sunk to a new low with this prank. Artists should strive for a higher standard.
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Matt Wilson
IE # 139
Member # 1520
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posted
It wasn't a prank. There was no malicious intent. They were pieces of artwork, misinterpreted by the public. I don't think that anyone should be held responsible. 9 out of 10 police departments were quoted as saying that no crime was committed and that the signs did not pose any threat whatsoever.
And I guarantee you that when they made the signs they were not thinking "bomb", they were just thinking that it was a cool, appropriately lo-fi tribute to lo-fi characters. Now that this has happened I'm sure they'll consider long and hard what potential circumstances could arise from future ideas before executing them. But I don't think that any rational person at the time could have expected people to think of them as anything other than signs, when they designed them. If anything they went out of their way to make sure it did not look like anything other than an LED.
One guy makes a complaint, and that's all it takes sometimes.
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nettajean
IE # 98
Member # 561
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posted
We had a billboard with that same figure here in Pittsburgh. It lit up at night...really awesome billboard. The sign had nothing else on it but the Moonnite and maybe Adult Swim really little at the bottom. The billboard only lasted a couple of weeks. I guess because of the obscene gesture. But at least it was obviously an advertisement.
However, if any of the little light bright types had shown up in this city you can bet that people would have gone to great lengths to get them down for their own dorm room decor.
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Hope for the Best. Expect the worst. Life is a play. We're unrehearsed
--Mel Brooks
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Matt Wilson
IE # 139
Member # 1520
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posted
I don't disagree with you that having a character flip a bird is a really unflattering way to advertise a program, 3 pixels long or not. I'm just trying to make it clear that these were just signs, mistaken to be something much more than they were.
Meanwhile, there's a person who planted an authentic-looking pipebomb in a hospital, and is still at large, while everyone in Boston is trying to prosecute people who made cartoon character signs and hung them where signs are typically placed in a city.
It's as scary as it is silly.
Also, Turner agreed to pay $750,000 to make up for the potential damages caused. It really should just end there, but naturally, it won't.
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spacelobster
IE # 278
Member # 3391
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posted
750 grand might not be a bad trade for all the publicity.
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ApeLad
IE # 231
Member # 3186
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posted
quote:
Animation sunk to a new low with this prank.
To be fair, it's a pretty far stretch to call ATHF "animated". Unless moving a square from point a to point b while making his mouth line wiggle is considered animation (which is an even sadder indictment of the industry). ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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MICROPHONE JONEZ
Member
Member # 1918
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posted
Lifted from another message board, and worth repeating:
Let’s get a few facts straight on the Aqua Teen Hunger Force sign fiasco:
1. Attorney General Martha Coakley needs to shut up and stop using the word “hoax.” There was no hoax. Hoax implies Turner Networks and the ATHF people were trying to defraud or confuse people as to what they were doing. Hoax implies they were trying to make their signs look like bombs. They weren’t. They made Lite-Brite signs of a cartoon character giving the finger.
2. It bears repeating again that Turner, and especially Berdovsky, did absolutely nothing illegal. The devices were not bombs. They did not look like bombs. They were all placed in public spaces and caused no obstruction to traffic or commerce. At most, Berdovsky is guilty of littering or illegal flyering.
3. The “devices” were placed in ten cities, and have been there for over two weeks. No other city managed to freak out and commit an entire platoon of police officers to scaring their own city claiming they might be bombs. No other mayor agreed to talk to Fox News with any statement beyond “no comment” when spending the day asking if this was a “terrorist dry run.”
4. There is nothing, not a single thing, remotely suggesting that Turner or the guerilla marketing firm they hired intended to cause a public disturbance. Many have claimed the signs were “like saying ‘fire’ in a crowded theater.” Wrong. This was like taping a picture of a fire to the wall of a theater and someone freaked out and called the fire department.
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Charles
Administrator
Member # 7
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posted
Those comments from whatever board they came from help me appreciate the comments of AN's community.
There's more comedy in the words of people who try and defend this than there will be in this show I'm willing to bet.
Nobody likes getting the finger. Maybe that's difficult for some people in animation to intellectually grasp, but it's true. It's about the most offensive gesture possible in our society. Cap that off with posting these things in a city where a group of the 9-11 hijackers boarded their plane and you just might wind up with a troubled municipality who responded in way that people who go around posting flip off promos aren't able to foresee.
This doesn't make the world a better place to live in, it makes it worse. This ain't an industry I want to be associated with if Cartoon Network thinks there was nothing wrong with it.
I wonder if these geniuses ever thought of checking with the City of Boston to see what the law is regarding this kind of thing, if permits are required, prior notice, etc.
More lowest common denominator stuff. Not much else.
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Charles
Administrator
Member # 7
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posted
We just flipped off all of Boston Massachusetts and everybody got mad at us! Can you believe it? We didn't do anything wrong!
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OFFBEAT
IE # 39
Member # 873
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posted
The headlines should be "City of Boston Fails Intelligence Test.. Tries To Foot The Stupidity Penelty to Turner Broadcasting"
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"Get Rich, or Die Drawing!"
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Charles
Administrator
Member # 7
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posted
I disagree. I think it should read... "City of Boston flips off Turner and alas, Turner cries like a troll."
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Semaj
Member
Member # 3131
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posted
Why is it in a time when we're calling for the end to the war on terror, we still can't overcome our fear of terrorists?
And of all cities, I thought New York would be the one to overreact to this.
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Tobias A. Wolf
IE # 250
Member # 383
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posted
To be honest; terror is the tool of the powerless. You want something to worry about; worry about the powerful.
Why is a non-event news? Have we such a lazy eye on the prize these days?
Clearly, the integrity of the mainstream press in their traditional role of useful priority sorting is just about gone. No wonder so many newspapers face financial trouble.
If this is news, so is my gas, burps, smell, and random hair in a weird place. Witness; a joke that matters only to those in search of something (anything) to get enraged about (mostly while sitting in traffic and wishing the person in front of them would go away).
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