Boston Scare Caused By Marketing Mistake

WNBC Television ^ | 02/01/07 | Puppage

[DB]

Brain food... ;-)

[MizSterious]

No doubt the same people would have been sniggering at the very thought of passenger planes being flown into skyscrapers.

The "ad campaign" MIGHT have made more sense if the "cartoon characters" had been even slightly recognizable as such. That cartoon must be a real ratings loser.

[longtermmemmory]

How do we know what they were? We have drug smugglers using children's dolls and teddy bears.

We have palestinians using the shape of a pregnant woman to hide bombs.

Plastic explosives chan be shaped into anything, INSIDE anything.

The irony here is that Turner tought people knew this obscure cartoon. If anything, we should just simply ignore the show and the movie.

[DB]

You can't win with that outlook.

There's no end to hidden bombs everywhere.

Bombs can be put in trash cans, newspaper dispensers, cars, light polls, planters, briefcases, backpacks, you name it. Most of those you have no chance at detecting before it is too late.

You can't live that way.

For you the terrorist have already won.

One has to use common sense and accept that living in a free nation has risks.

Being worried that "some how" free people put up electronic signs around an open city without being stopped isn't that frightening.

[DB]

Um, you look at one.

In this case if you can't look at one and tell what it is I would respectfully suggest that you wouldn't recognize what was in the McDonald's sign either. So therefore it could be a bomb too...

[Ramius]

Not a hoax, Deval. A hoax is an intent to decieve, to make something look like something else.

I don't think it's fair to point a finger at Boston authorities for overreacting. They were getting reports of suspicious devices. What are they supposed to do? They've got no choice but to react to the report, until they learn otherwise. We sure don't want them to start ignoring reports because of... what? They don't know what they have until they go out.

What's curious to me is that these gizmos were sitting in place for something like three weeks without anybody taking much notice of them, or raising any particular suspicion... then all of a sudden one day some six or more of them are simultaneously reported as "suspicious devices"??

There's your hoax. The publicity gimmick wasn't working. I'd bet money that it was the guys that put them up that had people call in and make reports of "suspicious" devices. They needed to nudge their project into public view... and that's how they did it.

[DB]

Ya, somebody could filled the light polls with plastic explosives too...

There's no end to this line of reasoning.

[Wormwood]

The "ad campaign" MIGHT have made more sense if the "cartoon characters" had been even slightly recognizable as such.

Perhaps you are not the demographic they were targeting.

ATHF DVD sets are among the cartoon network's best-selling products.

[MizSterious]

No, the way you win is NOT by putting your head in the sand and ignoring what's going on around you. Lots of us missed what was going on with all the trial runs the 9/11 terrorists did prior to 9/11. To some, it might have been obvious, but if they'd have pointed it out, people like you would have laughed them out of the room.

Now, at least, the terrorists know that as long as they put a cartoon character (even ones as dubious as these) on their devices, no one will take them seriously. Until they explode.

[Wormwood]

Ya, somebody could filled the light polls with plastic explosives too...

Or the strobing lights could trigger epileptic seizures! Or they could start broadcasting the Koran in morse code!

You're right---this is getting silly.

[DBrow]

I'm not criticizing the Boston cops. It's the governor there who does not know what a "hoax device" is, after he should have been fully briefed on the issue.

I knew who jackpot123 was around noon (3 in Boston), and the governor still does not get it?

He's protecting his ego.

I'd like to know who made the four almost simultaneous calls and what was said. Many people in the area knew about the signs; livejournal, youtube, flikr, photobucket, and myspace posts make that clear. It was common knowlege in the target audience.

[MizSterious]

Um, that might or might not mean something, depending on how they compare to other DVDs sold. I don't know that many people who even watch that network. Talk about brainrot.

[Boston Blackie]

(I do hope they didn't put the marketing guys in jail when they arrested them)

They're looking at 190 years if convicted of all 38 counts.

[maryz]

The city should have an ordinance against placing advertising on public spaces without a license.

Under state law, you need a permit, and there seem to be lots of restrictions. For $1.05, you can purchase your own copy of 711 CMR 1.00-3.00 Control and Restriction of Billboard Signs and Other Advertising Devices.

[TalonDJ]

Professionals that are supposed to know better should have been easily able to identify that these "devices" weren't a threat. Everything was out in the open - there wasn't some enclosed case that could have contained a substantial amount of explosives. They're thin and their inner workings are clearly visible. It was obvious they were cheap electronic signs.

You are totally wrong on this. Do have any idea how big a boom a 1 inch deep, 1 foot square mass of plastic explosives would make?

This could easily have been some type of terror plot.

[Wormwood]

I don't know that many people who even watch that network.

Proving, once more, that you are not their target audience.

Talk about brainrot.

You haven't seen the show, so your opinions on it are worthless.

[DB]

Wrong on both counts.

You put way to much sophistication into something simple.

If terrorist want to randomly kill people on the street there are endless ways to do it without using cartoon characters to needlessly provide cover.

Back to the trash can on the street - or parked car - or planter with bushes in it - or any number of other hiding places they can put real explosive is real quantities that can cause real damage. It is brutally easy to kill us if you have the will and the explosives to do it.

You will not win if the only way to win is to remove the hiding places - they are endless.

Cheap electronic signs are nowhere on the list of requirements to do it.

[MizSterious]

No, but I've seen the really POORLY drawn "characters." For the record, I consider the entire network a waste of time.

[AD from SpringBay]

But looking at the device last night, it didn't look at ALL like a bomb.

Might be a good way to do it - hide something out in the open where everybody can't find it. Especially if it doesn't look like a bomb (whatever a bomb looks like). Do they still look like a round black ball with a lit fuse on top? Or maybe a couple of red sticks with a wind-up clock and a red and blue and yellow wire? Never clip the red wire, that's what I hear. But then, most modern bombs have a BIG RED LCD countdown right on front so you can see how much longer until they detonate. I learned all that on tha tee vee. So I guess you're right - these certainly didn't look at all like bombs. This spring however I'll be going to bomb expert school so I can tell for myself when something looks like a bomb.

[DB]

It won't come anywhere near taking down a big bridge sitting on the side of it nor even a building.