Yesterday a marketing campaign for Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” caused a massive panic in Boston, when LED signs of Ignignot and Err (Mooninite Marauders characters from the show) were mistaken as explosive devices. Boston authorities overreacted and shut down half of the city and the Adult Swim art was subsequently detonated by Boston police.
Media & Blog Coverage
“Froth, fear, and fury in Boston” (Boston Globe)
“Hoax packages cause alarm in Boston” (CNN)
“Aqua Teen Hunger Force LED art shuts down Boston” (Phillip Torrone, Make Magazine)
“Suspicious Packages in Boston” (Skadz, Metroblogging Boston)
“LED ad campaign ignites terrorism scare in Boston” (Mark Frauenfelder, Boing Boing)
“Promotional Gadgets Grip Boston in Fear and Loathing” (Gizmodo)
“everybody panic!” (Wil Wheaton)
“AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE Hysteria In Boston… sad commentary on the times we live in?” (Ain’t It Cool News)
“Boston and the ATHF: the day after” (Bob Sassone, TV Squad)
“Non-Terrorist Embarrassment in Boston” (Bruce Schneier)
“Cartoon Network Chief Quits Over Marketing Stunt” (Associated Press)
“Some Thoughts on Last Week in Boston” (Wooster Collective)
Meme Propagation
A Little Something for the Hackers in Boston (bunnie)
Here’s a video of the LED art being installed by the guerrilla marketing company Interference Inc as well some photos.
Last month I came across one of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force promos while driving around Los Angeles.
UPDATE 1: Boston police have arrested Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, the artists who were hired by Turner Broadcasting to install the promotional artwork. Peter’s website zebbler.com not currently online, but his MySpace page is still up.
UPDATE 2: Turner Broadcasting has issued an apology regarding the controversial marking campaign.
UPDATE 3: The LED signs had been previously installed in 10 other cities without incident, including San Francisco. So why did Boston freak out like it did? Wil Wheaton has an excellent analysis of how it all went down.
UPDATE 4: littlestarletta who is LMAO about this situation on LiveJournal, found this great 1-31-07 memorial image.
UPDATE 5: Sean and Peter made their official statement to the media, were they only would discuss hairstyles from the 70’s. Hilarious.
UPDATE 6: The video of Peter and Sean (aka GlitchCrew) installing the LED devices in Boston is now online.
UPDATE 7: Two Ignignogt LED signs were found by Michelle and Safire in San Francisco.
UPDATE 8: Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens have apologized for scaring Boston.
Here Are A Few Related Posts You Might Enjoy:
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie Intro
- Mooninite Device Installers Apologize For Scaring Boston
- Midwest Teen Sex Show: Episode #2 Abstinence
- Panic Infomercial For Their Mac Software Sale
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Josh Glenn, a blogger for The Boston Globe’s Ideas section has some interesting conjecture on Boston panicked and others did not.
I personally think it could have happened in any of those cities. It just takes one paranoid person and a couple of clueless cops.
Free the Mooninite Two!
The two guys that were jailed, were live, talking to reporters just an hour ago on CNN. They turned it into a media circus, only allowing the reporters to talk to them on hair-related questions. They only wanted to discuss hair styles in the seventies, while these reporters were trying to ask them why they had spread terror. So amazing! I’m sure the clip will be up tonight.
Oh my god…not the scary lightbright man bomb….those JIHADIS sure are getting good at technology. I thought they lived in caves playing with grenades.
What a bunch of undercultivated, overmedicated, insidious, apathetic fucks. I hope the scary light bright man scarred them for life…..stupid ass cops.
For immediate release:
————————————
Contact:
Jeffrey Scott Holland
502.224.8348
jshpaint@gmail.com
JEFFREY SCOTT HOLLAND WITHDRAWS
“PROJECT EGG” PUBLIC ART INSTALLATION
FROM BOSTON
As you may know, last year I left green Easter Eggs in various
public and semi-public places in several American cities, as part
of my PROJECT EGG public art installation. This April, it had been
my intent to the expand the egg hunt to cover the entire nation,
with eggs hidden in the major cities of each of the fifty states.
However, in the wake of the ludicrous and Orwellian response of
Boston city officials to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force ad campaign,
I have been deeply morally appalled at behavior and statements
of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Assistant Attorney General
John Grossman, claiming that lightboxes such as those used in
the Aqua Teen Hunger Force ad campaign were no longer
appropriate in a “post 9/11 world”, and that the “hoax” perpetrators
“clearly intended” the lightboxes to be mistaken for bombs.
These so-called public officials are apparently blissfully ignorant of the simple fact that terrorist bombs logically do not call attention to themselves with flashing lights and cartoon characters.
Given this chilling effect the powers-that-be in Boston have cast on
free expression (not to mention common sense), I must withdraw my
intent to give away Easter Eggs in the state of Massachusetts in
April. I will not give these men further fuel in their drive to present
themselves as intelligent and valiant fighters of “potential” terrorism
in the name of national security, which is the real hoax being
perpetrated here.
To paraphrase Senator Jordan in the original Manchurian Candidate
film, “these men could not be doing more harm to America than if
they were paid Russian agents”.
Jeffrey Scott Holland
http://www.jeffreyscottholland.com/
I made a wallpaper for everyone to enjoy..which will be up on the internet at http://www.c4k-comic.com soon as a shirt as well..
it’s 1024×768 http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/47817374/
And here’s just a fun picture I made afterwards with it :P
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/47875026/
How are you taking it seriously, by causing “widespread panic and destruction.” (reporter question at news conference with Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky)
“Level 3, beware the Gorgarton. He’s in love. ”
“Shoot em’ in the head!”
“Head shot, rampage, killing spree!”
“You have mastered Moon Master, you are the Moon Master!”
“No f–king way!”
“Yes way Err.” (Aqua Teen Hunger Force — Moon Master)
I always knew that Err was a terrorist. As soon as all those Bostonians saw him flipping them off, they immediately came to the same realization.
Wait till they get a load of Balloonenstein. :-)
Once again George W. Bush has saved us all from the evils of 80s era video game characters. Thank heaven for God Emperor Bush and the paranoia he has brought to our great country.
What a joke, let’s just hope that Sean and Pete don’t wind up at Guantánamo Bay, stripped of their rights and being force fed through nasal gastric tubes.
The hot new hip fashion item for today’s discerning terrorist,
The Err LED light Brite T-shirt
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/02/homemade_led_sh.html
Get them while supplies last.
note to site owner: you cannot type or paste in the boxes provided for e-mail addresses or web site URLs on Internet explore, I had to switch to Mozilla to post this comment.
The overreaction is worthy of ridicule, and the video clip of a Mooninite getting detonated is priceless (and a little depressing, too). However, I don’t think we should lionize the two guys who put up the signs just because they ended up on the other end of the stick from a bunch of “blah blah blah post-9/11 world” hysteria. It’s clear that there was no intention to make the signs look like bombs. So what were they really doing? They were just getting paid $300 to put someone else’s ads all over Boston; the hipness of the ads shouldn’t make us overlook that. This is not a matter of disenfranchised individuals using guerrilla tactics to get a message across. This is about a powerful media company (Turner) employing guerrilla marketers to reach into one more corner of our lives. It’s the opposite of culture jamming. There’s nothing subversive about appropriating public space for the sake of getting people to watch more TV and buy shit.
I agree with Chris Hardin that thet the lite brites were not an act of culture jamming and that Turner is employing a couple of guys who are artists of a sort to promote the Turner cartoon movie. However, the fact that these guys are being prosecuted is ludicrous. And the hair style “stay on message” thing at the press conference was incredibly, beautifully punk. I think they should get praises at least for that. Now I need to figure out how to make one of those lite brite things!