in what has to be the greatest story of the year to come, suspicious packages paralyzed down town Boston - suspicious packages that turned out to be part of a Cartoon Network marketing campaign.
In nine cities across the country, blinking electronic signs displaying a profane, boxy-looking cartoon character caused barely a stir.
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But in Boston, the signs — some with protruding wires — sent a wave of panic across the city, bringing out bomb squads and prompting officials to shut down highways, bridges and part of the Charles River.
Something that may have been amusing in other cities was not funny to authorities here, the city that served as the base for the hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11 attacks. Officials defended their reaction Thursday even as two men charged in the case, and some residents, mocked the response as overblown.
Young Bostonians familiar with the unconventional marketing tactics used by many companies tended to see the city’s reaction as unmitigated hysteria.
Tracy O’Connor, 34, a retail manager, called the police response “silly and insane,” contrasting it with that in other cities where no one reported concerns about the devices — an advertising gimmick for the Cartoon Network show “Aqua Teen Hunger Force.”
“We’re the laughing stock,” she said.
Public safety officials and a large segment of Boston’s older generation condemned the publicity campaign as unthinkable in today’s post-9/11 world.
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Source: The Associated Press viaYahoo! News
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The Great Geek Manual » Get your Mooninte T-Shirt said
February 2 2007 @ 1:08 pm
[...] Get your Mooninite T-Shirt commemorating Boston’s complete over-reaction to Cartoon Network’s recent guerrilla marketing campaign. But buyer beware, Boston PD have been detonating lightbrites all around the city, and the District Attorney sounded pissed this morning on NPR. Wear one of these and you may be mistaken for a terrorist. [...]
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The Great Geek Manual » PVP The Animated Series Premieres said
February 2 2007 @ 2:00 pm
[...] For those of you who aren’t familiar with the comic, it centers around the adventures of the employees of a fictional video game magazine company. It’s a hilarious parade of geek culture references and sarcasm. In earlier strips, the comic concentrated on video games, but the scope has definitely widened. After watching the first episode, I can honestly say I’m surprised. The quality of the animation is far beyond what I would have expected from a webcomic. Heck, it beats most of what passes for programming on Cartoon Network most nights. Of course, PVP doesn’t have Cartoon Networks snazzy guerrilla marketing techniques. And unlike some other animation converts (such as Dilbert) the storylines seem to share the spirit of the original comic. [...]