Only in Boston

An outside the box marketing campaign sent Boston into a frenzy all day Wednesday.

Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network in an effort to promote the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie set up several "Lite-Brite" like images of a "Moonanite" a heel character from the show all over public spots throughout Boston and nine other cities. The problem was the images were put on some bridges and other infrastructure and resembled bombs, causing all Homeland Security departments, Federal and Local to investigate and decommission the devices. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was furious at the "hoax" and vows legal action will be taken against all involved for the resources spent investigating the devices.

Like most people who have had sex, I have never seen Aqua Teen Hunger Force and this marketing campaign and the events of today make me no more likely to see the upcoming movie. So to this consumer the marketing campaign has failed. And while I hate to take the side of Cartoon Network and this crunchy fellow

This seems to be a gross overreaction on the part of the Boston authorities and now that the source has been revealed to be realtively innocuous, all must feel a little embarrassed, whether they admit it or not. Prosecution would only set a dangerous precedent that people and companies could be held responsible for misperceptions of terrorist activity.

This event has spawned a couple mainstream media appearances by the SCZA which he will surely post on his blog.