[Cotuit]

Runaway Reindeer

[Cotuit]

Boston.com just made a small update to their site's header while I was reading it. Adding an expanded search feature and upcoming events links. I like it. You may have to have an account with them to see as it is a Beta which is being introduced to "loyal users."

[cloudship]

Cotuit, on Dec 15 2006, 02:12 PM, said:

Runaway Reindeer

Now every time I pass by a house with those reindeer in front I want to grab a blanket and throw it over them to give them some warmth!

[Cotuit]

I've updated the Boston portal article by liberally copying from something that atlrvr posted.

http://boston.urbanplanet.org

[Cotuit]

Someone has some 'splainin' to do.

Suspicious packages part of Turner Broadcasting marketing campaign [Boston.com]

Quote

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 law enforcement on the exact locations of the billboards. We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger.


Shirley Powell
SVP, Corporate Communications

No apology for vadalism or displaying illegal ads without notice or restitution to the property owners (i.e. the cities and the Commonwealth)?

[JJK5]

I've grown tired of these 'guerilla marketing' campaigns. They're gimmicky, I'd much rather they just came out and advertised.

[atlrvr]

Meatwad no!!

Meatwad yes!!!!

Ehhh...I like the show, so I'm partial but I think the whole issue is overblown, AND I was 30 minutes late for work after standing FOREVER in the 19 degree weather at Roxbury Crossing waiting for the Orange Line.

Was it stupid for these signs to be attached to public infrastructure? Yes. Did they look threatening....if you have never seen the show then maybe. But to me, it just seems like a couple of egos were hurt, and now the politicians are grand standing to cover up the fact that they got the whole city paranoid about some LED cartoon character.

This was a great "real life" excercise for terrorism response teams, and Turner should step up, appologize, pay the bill, and life should go on....instead Menino and Patrick want to use these mis-identified illegally-placed signs as a reason to sue and imprison. I would be a lot more terrified to walk alone at night in Mattapan than to ride the Orangle Line past some strange looking box, so I would wish the city would put things in perspective and focus on the real issues affecting the city and stop grandstanding on easy harmless targets.

[Cotuit]

Even if everyone involved realized immediately that these were Cartoon Network images, they would still have to have been investigated as threats, and the same precautions would have to have been taken. If we now tell the world that we won't investigate anything with a cartoon on it, don't you think people out to do harm would then put cartoons on their bombs?

This was grossly irresponsible on the parts of everyone involved from the execs at Turner on down. Everyone should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, after what happened September 11th people really need to think about the possible ramifications of what they do and be held responsible for their actions.

[JJK5]

I'm entertaining the possibility that the marketing agency was behind the phone calls to the police. The signs were up for 3 weeks with little public interest and no semblance of the viral buzz they had hoped for. Suddenly the police get multiple calls on the same day from all over town? Sounds suspicious to me.

[Cotuit]

Indeed, without this event, Cartoon Network would never have had wall to wall coverage on cable news all day.

[cloudship]

JJK5, on Feb 1 2007, 11:10 AM, said:

I'm entertaining the possibility that the marketing agency was behind the phone calls to the police. The signs were up for 3 weeks with little public interest and no semblance of the viral buzz they had hoped for. Suddenly the police get multiple calls on the same day from all over town? Sounds suspicious to me.

All the reason more why I think they need to be punished. I mean, how far do we let these advertising agencies go just to make a buck? What if something like that caused a big panic situation? Think about what costs this puts to the public - and next time the agency has to top this and go even farther.

Of course what REALLY bothers me is that these things have been up for 3 weeks and nobody noticed anything before!!!

[Gusterfell]

cloudship, on Feb 1 2007, 09:32 PM, said:

Of course what REALLY bothers me is that these things have been up for 3 weeks and nobody noticed anything before!!!

That is the worst part of the whole thing. If these things were bombs, don't you think they would have gone off long ago? The rush to panic by city officials was absurd. If this was a test of the city's terrorist response, they failed miserably.

JJK5, on Feb 1 2007, 11:10 AM, said:

I'm entertaining the possibility that the marketing agency was behind the phone calls to the police. The signs were up for 3 weeks with little public interest and no semblance of the viral buzz they had hoped for. Suddenly the police get multiple calls on the same day from all over town? Sounds suspicious to me.

Maybe, but why would the marketing agency expect the city to mistake illuminated signs for bombs? One would assume that "experts" would quickly be able to tell the difference, rendering this campaign the non-event it really is. This publicity is the best thing Turner could have hoped for, but I doubt it was planned this way.

The company displayed illuminated signs in public areas. They obviously expected people to see them as signs, and nothing more. Somebody in the city's chain of command was paranoid and overreacted. Now the city is making a big deal out of it, in an attempt to limit its embarrassment. At worst, these people committed the minor crime of displaying advertisements without proper permits. Slap them with a $100 fine and be done with it.

This post has been edited by Gusterfell: 02 February 2007 - 12:19 PM

[suburban george3]

Just as an outsider looking in to this whole "terrorist hoax" by the ad campaign for ATHF, I am shocked by how Boston responded when it did. I now it was a hassle for you who have to commute, but I think the response was overblown and like it was said earlier, these devices had been in other locations for weeks. Maybe the campaign was irresponsible and the device should have had some kind of disclaimer that it was an advertising campaign, but to put the whole city of Boston in a panic mode? We are living in fear WAY to much these days.

I think the two charged with placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct should have to pay a small fine and have the charges dismissed. Turner Broadcasting has agreed to pay the nearly $1 million dollars in costs the city has accrued to the "hoax." The publicity Boston has afforded Turner, Cartoon Network, and ATHF is probably worth 2 to 3 times that.

[Cotuit]

Other cities did not have these devices placed on public infrastruture such as bridges and subway stations. Should the police just have ignored these objects because they had cartoons on them? So now anyone who wants to do harm knows they can just put a cartoon on their bombs and people will ignore them?

[Gusterfell]

Cotuit, on Feb 3 2007, 03:36 PM, said:

Should the police just have ignored these objects because they had cartoons on them? So now anyone who wants to do harm knows they can just put a cartoon on their bombs and people will ignore them?

On the other hand, should we shut down major cities every time there is an object the slightest bit out of the ordinary? What's next... closing down I-95 because a VCR falls out of the back of an overloaded truck? "Oh, no, there's an unknown electronic device on the highway! It might be a bomb!" Have we really become that afraid?

I assume you've seen what these devices looked like. They were small electric signs. Obviously they needed a power source, so they had a small battery attached. Sure, theoretically a bomb could have been designed to look like that, isn't it far more likely that the devices would turn out to be exactly what they looked like? There was zero reason to jump to the conclusion that there was a threat to public safety.

I don't know where the devices were placed in other cities, but I presume they were in crowded, well-travelled areas. Public infrastructure isn't the only possible terrorist target, and the fact that nine other cities didn't jump to the worst possible conclusion speaks volumes about Boston's overreaction.

This post has been edited by Gusterfell: 03 February 2007 - 05:21 PM

[Cotuit]

I think when we are all trained in threat assessment we can start making wild accusations about the reaction to threats.

[suburban george3]

One thing I did read that "GREATLY" concerned me about the accused actions is that he found out about the commotion, went home and got a video camera, and was taping the police response to one of these devices. He then went back and called his employer. Honestly, in this day and age the guy doesn't have a cellphone to call his employer? He should have went to the closest officer and asked what was going on and "fessed" up to what he had done. While I still consider Boston's response "over-reaction" this was VERY poor judgement on the "device's" installer's part.

[suburban george3]

I just say an AP bulletin on the MSNBC website that the Head of the Cartoon Network has resigned due to the Boston Ad Campaign/Terrorist Hoax debacle.

[atlrvr]

It's warm weather in Boston now, and do you know what that means? Apparantly its time for motorcycle riders to cruise the Newbury/Boylston loop and wow the shoppers with how loud thier bikes are!!!!!!

Is there any local law against this? It's a horrendous quality of life issue.

[Lowerdeck]

My brother got pulled over south of Worcester for having too loud. The interesting part is, he had stock parts on his car and he was on I-395, not even in a residential neighborhood. Got out of that ticket.

How some of those motorcycles don't get pulled over for being too loud is beyond imagination.