"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" causes terrorism panic in Boston

It's one thing to be worried when the signs are attached to bridges and people don't know what they are.

It's another thing to keep sending the bomb squad to the site of each sign, after everyone knows what's going on. The authorities erred on the side of caution, then continued to go overboard after they no longer needed to.

I'm not a lawyer, but I can't see how anyone's going to get this kid who's under arrest on a "hoax device" charge. It wasn't a hoax at all. It was electronic graffiti used as guerrilla marketing. It was trespassing. It was property damage (sort of). It was supremely stupid. But it wasn't a hoax.

 

He'll plea-bargain and get community service. Any good prosecutor always goes overboard on the charges at first, to put pressure on the defense to plead.

Right now, the state and the city are wielding their big stick. There'll be no lawsuits, Time Warner will cut everyone nice checks and all will be good in the world.

 

Beautiful. I look forward to this show every night, and I'm freakin' 34 years old.

Perhaps Bart Oates is somehow involved in all this.

 

And this comes from <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/01/31/governor_mayor_livid_as_boston_ad_stunt_spurs_chaos/">The Boston Globe story</a>:

So apparently, it took many sets of eyes before people realized what the deal was.

 

And if the 10th one happened to go "Boom" when the first nine were duds... I'm guessing people would be raking the city over the coals and not saying, "but the others were duds so we'll let them off the hook for it". It will be interested to hear the kid who got arrested squeal like a pig if the ad agency he was working for told him to place signs in places like this.

As for why didn't the cops pick up on it, well, count me in as dumb as them for not knowing what the character was. And I'm in the demographic they shoot for.

From reading The General Laws of Massachusetts, Chapter 266. Section 102A1/2, it sounds like the figures fit the description of a hoax device.

From Part B, basically a definition of a hoax device.

An object that shape, with wires sticking out of it with the bottoms wrapped in duct tape attached to a highway overpass 15 feet from the ground...
Bring the motherfuckers in and throw the book at them.

The ad agency could find itself in shit from the same law as well because part A starts like this...

I'm guessing the kid didn't make those signs himself and got them from someone.

 

So you're saying it draws twice as well as the NHL All-Star Game.

 

Yes, and Frylock would make a better commisioner.

 

adultswim.com starts off with an apology for what happened, says it was a third-party marketing company.
Some checks will get cut, people will get happy and then forget.
I can't wait for the bumps this weekend and I'm not a stoner either, but I watch a lot of cartoons on TV and eat plenty of cold cereal.

 

=

 

I'm watching the second Futurama right now. They just had a straight forward bump explaining what happened and offering an apology.

Nothing sarcastic whatsoever.

 

Holy crap, that's funny.

 

They can show their sincerity by whipping out the checkbook to cover the cost of today for starters.