There was some panic in Boston Wednesday as two local idiots took the fall for Turner Broadcasting’s guerilla marketing campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force, which shut down two bridges, the Charles River, parts of the MBTA and put the city under a terrorist scare before the hoax was fully revealed.
The whole thing made me feel a bit old because I have never heard of, let alone watched, the show. Judging by the reaction of the show’s message boards, this means I’m an old fart (well, that’s true) who completely overreacted to a marketing campaign that wasn’t aimed at me. It makes me feel a bit better to realize that 98% of the population here is probably with me, and the defendants’ immature reactions to their indictments didn’t do the show’s fans or supporters any favors. Turner has also published a full apology and says it will reimburse the city for expenses (except for items like lost T fares, businesses that had to close, people who missed flights and appointments due to mass transit shutdowns, etc.)
On one hand, if the campaign was aimed to boneheads like the defendants, the campaign was a wild success. Fines and potential jail terms are small potatoes compared to the reams of free publicity the show received, and its ratings will rise in the near term as curiosity will pique interest in Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
But as usual, Boston Mayor Tom Menino is right. In the world we now live in, security and public safety are paramount, and an overreaction is better than ignorance. The people on message boards and elsewhere who dismiss Bostonians as being out of touch because we haven’t seen the show and don’t get the guerilla marketing campaign have either very short memories, very loose morals, or just were not here to see a city completely on the edge. And sorry, but a mysterious package under a bridge with protruding wires and visible electronic components sticking out of it is going to start a panic and security issue, even if it is adorned by Ignigokt flipping the bird.
Menino said he wants to find who at Turner Broadcasting was behind this and see if he can press charges. No matter what further chuckles this brings from people who say we don’t get the joke, I won’t stand in the mayor’s way.
More Info: This isn't the first time guerilla marketing has crossed the line. Hopefully it will be the last.
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