We can only hope that the soon-to-be-released "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" movie will be as entertaining as the fracas which has surrounded its promotional publicity. By now, most Tufts students are familiar with the marketing/terrorism scandal which put Boston's mayoral office and its security forces into a complete tizzy.
In an attempt to increase the hype surrounding the movie's release, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. placed at least 38 electronic placards in various spots around the city several weeks ago, prompting Boston security officials to react to what they perceived to be potential bombs. The objects were, in fact, a part of their guerrilla marketing campaign conceived by Interference Inc. and already launched in 10 cities across the United States.
Turner Broadcasting has accepted full responsibility for the public fear which ensued from the stunt in Beantown. But this whole incident begs the following question: who was actually scared?
According to police records, the first reports of a device trickled into the Boston Police Department on the morning of Jan. 31. At 9 a.m., a bomb squad arrived at the scene and closed I-93 as a precaution. By 10:21 a.m., police had determined that the item was a hoax. Yet hours later, reports of similar devices throughout the city prompted mass closings of bridges and roads, effectively rendering the city impassable and causing public panic, though not among those members of the population who recognized the cartoons as images of the show's popular character Ignignokt, a two-dimensional character from the moon.
By 1 p.m., media reports that the so-called terrorist threat was a hoax began to emerge, and later that afternoon Turner issued its own statement claiming responsibility for the lit-up cartoon images appearing under bridges and on overpasses.
So now we're in a situation in which Boston officials are demanding restitution for an ad campaign which failed to ruffle feathers in Boston for at least two weeks - not to mention not at all in the nine other major cities in which it was launched.
The joke here is on Boston officials who are now demanding that Turner pay the approximately $750,000 the city spent detonating the advertisements and responding to the scare. Of course the police's first response to the mysterious circuit boards was understandable - but a sound anti-terrorism reaction includes thoughtful and practical measures, not a large-scale shutdown of roads and unnecessary deployments of bomb squads, especially when the first device was determined to be a hoax early on. It was Boston's security force that made a mistake in overreacting, and blame can certainly not be placed on the two artists who have been arrested for "placing a hoax device to incite panic" and "disorderly conduct."
At the arraignment of Sean Stevens, 28, and Peter Berdvosky, 27, Assistant Attorney General John Grossman claimed that the two were trying to "get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location." This claim is dubious, given that the men were hired by the advertising agency Interference, Inc. to create a campaign for the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" movie.
The conduct of the accused, who met with reporters on Thursday and launched into a discussion of 1970s hairstyles, was more reminiscent of the behavior of mischievous teenagers than the antics of terrorists.
Stevens and Berdvosky perhaps should have been more cautious in the execution of their design, but such carelessness certainly does not warrant the five-year imprisonment that the two will face if convicted for their "hoax device."
Instead of pursuing legal charges against the men and against Turner Co., Boston officials should simply admit their mistake - which was legitimate and understandable - and move on. The mayor and governor should not allow these practical jokers to waste any more of their time and energy.
And while the media and public continue to be amused by the fallout from this guerrilla marketing campaign, more serious threats are slipping under the radar screen. Two fake pipe bombs, unrelated to the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" advertisements, were discovered in Boston on Wednesday. One of them was found in front of the Tufts-New England Medical Center.
Security officials cannot be expected to be omniscient in all situations, knowing when a threat is real and when it is simply a joke. But they should be able to move on and learn from their mistakes. Despite Governor Deval Patrick's stern assessment of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force ad campaign - "It's a hoax - and it's not funny" - the general public seems to be finding these cartoons, and Boston's paranoid reaction to them, pretty amusing.
