Goodnight, Boston!

Robots don't need to flip people off, they have lasers

"This was never intended or designed to be a marketing stunt to create fear," Turner spokeswoman Shirley Powell said on Thursday, regarding the battery-operated light boards aimed at promoting the late-night Adult Swim cartoon "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," which had been placed throughout the city of Boston (one of ten cities selected for the marketing campaign), prompting city officials to go on terrorist alert. "If we had perceived this to be threatening, we would never have implemented the campaign." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

If it truly wasn't their intention to create headline-grabbing panic, how on Earth could Turner have let this guerrilla marketing scheme become so unsupervised, to the point that no one thought about laws involving criminal mischief and unlawful posting on public property?

It isn't something that we, the little people, guffawing from our armchairs at the talking milk shake and dancing wad of meat, would have considered or even taken seriously had we been in their shoes--but it's impossible to believe that Turner wasn't thoroughly informed of the illegality involved and fully aware of the mass fear which would follow.

On the other hand, what isn't very difficult to imagine, are Turner marketing strategists realizing what creating a "stir" could do for their product.

They've got this cartoon that's been on the air for several years; it has a following, but it's never really become mainstream--they aren't talking about it on Letterman and Leno like they were Bevis and Butthead and South Park. As they prepare to launch the Aqua Teen Hunger Force film, they say "Well, at this point our expectations are more in the ball park of the Cowboy Bebop US film release than the South Park movie."

So what do they do?

Pull a stunt that will generate discussion on network news, making their product a nationally recognized phenomenom.

They're planting a little seed of awareness that's going to grow, so when the movie's released (that's been pretty obscure until now, and which might have just faded in and out) it has to become a story, they have to report on it. Even if you've never seen the show, you'll know when the film hits theaters.

"Remember that bomb scare? Well, this is what it was about."

"Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters" is set to release in April of this year.

- lordm