Publicity Stunt Suspects Released
2 Men Accused Of Putting Electronic Ads For Cartoon Around Boston Prompting Scare
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Play CBS Video Video Boston's Bomb Hoax A guerrilla marketing campaign designed to promote a show on the Cartoon Network sparked a city-wide fear of terrorism in Boston. Joie Chen reports.
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Video Boston Alert A Hoax The series of suspicious devices raising alert in Boston turned out to be an advertising campaign for Cartoon Network. Gov. Deval and Police Commissioner Davis addressed the media.
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Sean Stevens, 28, left, and Peter Berdovsky, 27, react during their arraignment in Charlestown District Court in Boston Thursday, Feb. 1, 2007. (AP Photo/Bizuayehu Tesfaye)
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An electronic device removed from where it had been hanging beneath an overpass in Boston, Jan. 15, 2007. (AP)
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Two members of the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority police carry a bag of circuit board pieces after a suspicious package containing the boards was detonated by the Boston Bomb Squad near the Sullivan Square subway station, Jan. 31, 2007. (AP)
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Photo Essay Boston Terror Scare Electronic devices, allegedly planted as part of publicity campaign, throw scare into the city.
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Interactive America On Guard The Homeland Security Department, the terror alert system, preparedness quiz and more.
"It is outrageous, in a post 9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme," Mayor Thomas Menino said Wednesday. "I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today's incidents."
Berdovsky, an artist, told The Boston Globe he was hired by a marketing company and said he was "kind of freaked out" by the furor.
"I find it kind of ridiculous that they're making these statements on TV that we must not be safe from terrorism, because they were up there for three weeks and no one noticed. It's pretty commonsensical to look at them and say this is a piece of art and installation," he said.
Fans of the show mocked authorities for what they called an overreaction.
About a dozen fans gathered outside Charlestown District Court on Thursday morning with signs saying "1-31-07 Never Forget" and "Free Peter."
"We're the laughing stock," said Tracy O'Connor, 34.
"It's almost too easy to be a terrorist these days," said Jennifer Mason, 26. "You stick a box on a corner and you can shut down a city."
Authorities vowed to hold Turner accountable for what Menino said was "corporate greed," that led to at least $750,000 in police costs.
As soon as Turner realized the Boston problem around 5 p.m., it said, law enforcement officials were told of their locations in 10 cities where it said the devices had been placed for two to three weeks: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Ore., Austin, Texas, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
"We apologize to the citizens of Boston that part of a marketing campaign was mistaken for a public danger," said Phil Kent, chairman of Turner, a division of Time Warner Inc.
Kent said the marketing company that placed the signs, Interference Inc., was ordered to remove them immediately.
Interference had no comment. A woman who answered the phone at the New York-based firm's offices Wednesday afternoon said the firm's CEO was out of town and would not be able to comment until Thursday.
Messages seeking additional comment from the Atlanta-based Cartoon Network were left with several publicists.
Authorities are investigating whether Turner or other companies should be criminally charged, Attorney General Martha Coakley said. "We're not going to let this go without looking at the further roots of how this happened to cause the panic in this city," Coakley said.
In Seattle and several suburbs, the removal of the signs was low-key. "We haven't had any calls to 911 regarding this," Seattle police spokesman Sean Whitcomb said Wednesday.
Police in Philadelphia said they believed their city had 56 devices.
The New York Police Department removed 41 of the devices — 38 in Manhattan and three in Brooklyn, according to spokesman Paul Browne. The NYPD had not received any complaints. But when it became aware of the situation, it contacted Cartoon Network, which provided the locations so the devices could be removed.
"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" is a cartoon with a cultish following that airs as part of a block of programs for adults on the Cartoon Network. A feature length film based on the show is slated for release March 23.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 198 CommentsPosted by nautiq at 03:04 PM : Feb 02, 2007
That was worth repeating!!!
Thank you, nautiq!
jail time for putting up lite brites?
wake up people - our government is stripping away our freedoms at a ridiculous rate and a lot of people are falling for it hook line and sinker.
freakin scary if you ask me!!!
Posted by AngryNYer at 10:06 AM : Feb 02, 2007"
Yet another moronic Monday morning quarterback! Tsk-tsk
Does your little mind even think that one way for terrorists to plant bombs is to MAKE THEIR DEVICES SEEM INNOCENT to smart arses like you? LOL
If there is no way of telling if an 'innocent' device is really innocent, THEN THE AUTHORITIES ARE COMPELLED TO ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION!
In your ignorance, you are coming across like the two DRUG HEADS who planted those devices to exploit Americans' uneasiness on behalf of the Turner racketeering media corporation!
It's just a bunch of silly Bostonites that got all upset that someone (or something) was giving them the finger. Then in typical Boston fashion, they completely overreacted.
Even further in Boston fashion, rather than admit they overreacted, they press criminal charges.
What a quote. How is this clear? Where is the intent? Yes the signs were in highly visible plces but any good marketing firm will tell you that is where you need to advertise.
The assistant Attorney General is a fool and so is most of the rest of the governing body of Boston.
In other cities these signs did not cause this kind of reaction and I don't buy the "the terrorists launched their attack from here so we need to be vigilant" argument. What a crock. Use a little common sense.
The "justice system" is nothing more than a means of extracting energy from the masses.. energy is money of course.. you trade your energy every time you work for money. So if you're ever "charged" with a crime remember this... you can get out if you can pay Ba'al, if not they'll stick you in a CELL to store the CHARGE, you might end up on the CIRCUIT COURT... you'll have to get a lawyer to REpresent you because this isn't about the present... once you hire a lawyer you're considered a "WARD OF THE COURT" that means since you hired a lawyer you're mentally or physically unable to care for yourself...
Now lets go take a look at a nice big state or federal courthouse on googles image search, then go find a picture of a nice big masonic lodge... exactly the same thing, and laid out exactly the same inside as well. The "honorable" judge, the most worshipful master, sits behind his podium with his masonic gavel, ruling from the bench, in latin bench means banc, or BANK.. So the Judge Rules from the Bank, to extract energy from those brought before him. After you finally get out of the clutches of these parasites they'll say "You've paid your debt to the secret society."
Don't wait for the other cities to belittle Boston over this though, city governments and police forces stick together.
What Boston should do now is drop the whole thing and hope it all goes away ASAP.
Ted Turner could toss them a bone and that would probably help. Maybe a check for 50,000 or so, he would not miss it, and it could be charged as a tax write off as a gift to the city.
"It's clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location," Assistant Attorney General John Grossman said at their arraignment
Grossman's assertation does not seem clear to me at all. An analogy would NYPD cops arresting Letterman for throwing stuff of the top of his building (as he frequently does) and then stating "It's clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest..."
Anderson Cooper's show tonight described these devices are similar to the old "Lite Bright" childrens games.
I dont know whats more embarrasing--that cops thought they were bombs or that their vanity is so great that they had to arrest a couple of low-level entertainers in order to protect it.
I thought my hometown of Buffalo was the Queen City of Stupid--but now I'm thinking--Boston maybe?
spray paint doesn't normally have the power to blow up a bridge, whereas a wired device does.
Ojama,
my point exactly, entertainment for those with arrested mental development. Thank you.
Accusing them of terrorism, or a terrorist hoax? That is beyond the pale. Please. This is a case of stupidity, and the majority of the stupidity is on the part of the Boston PD.
I wonder if they accost graffiti artists with the same madness...I see obscenities spray-painted quite often. Offensive? Sure. An act of terrorism?!!!! Come on.
The Boston PD overreacted. They should be big enough to admit it.
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