City overreacts to advertisement by a cartoon show
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 02/08/2007
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Boston is scared of Lite Brites.
As a promotional stunt for "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," a show that airs on Cartoon Network, two men hid electronic light boards with images of "Mooninites," characters on the show that live on the moon, flipping the bird across Boston, New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Portland, Austin, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Out of all of these cities, Boston is the only city in which the "bomb-like devices" caused panic.
Jason Pinckney, a junior at Boston University, said Adult Swim (the night programming on Cartoon Network) does a lot of promotional events at their campus, adding that the recent panic is "pretty ridiculous."
The two men are being charged with placing a hoax device in a way that results in panic, a felony, and one count of disorderly conduct. Boston transportation officials are asking Turner Broadcasting, the owner of Cartoon Network, to reimburse the city.
In all reality, the fact the publicity stunt worked in nine cities out of the 10 should tell you something about the novelty of these devices. Boston is the only city to overreact and claim that lit-up cartoon characters created mass panic across the city.
"They just blew it out of proportion," said Pinckney. "It was a huge waste of money." Boston Mayor Thomas Menino called the stunt a product of "corporate greed," while Boston-area Congressman Ed Markey added, "It would be hard to dream up a more appalling publicity stunt."
I can think of a million "more appalling" publicity stunts. Janet Jackson flashed a crowd at the Super Bowl. Paris Hilton made a sex video. Angelina Jolie exploited Namibia to have her baby. Madonna spouted out blasphemy to sell a few records.
None of these people faced felony charges. In fact, it pumped some life into their sagging careers, all at the public's expense.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said the Lite Brites had "a very sinister appearance." Adding, "it had a battery behind it, and wires."
It's called technology, Boston. In fact, the devices were Light Emitting Diodes devices, hardly something that needs the Bomb Squad to handle.
"After they found the first one, I would assume that then they knew it wasn't a bomb," said Pinckney. There was no need to take down all the other devices, he said.
On Monday, Turner Broadcasting agreed to pay $2 million to Boston to compensate for any hardship caused by the bomb scare.
I understand that since Sept. 11 everyone is extra sensitive to any attacks on our soil, especially in Boston where the hijackers first took off. However, New York City was also directly affected by that fatal day and did not panic from the prank. During one of my classes Monday, a professor brought up the topic to discuss how she was appalled at the insensitivity the advertising company portrayed.
All the attention over these childhood toys brought to my attention the hyper-sensitivity of the country. At what point are we going to stop living in constant fear of attacks and threats to realize that a few colorful blinking lights are harmless? The Boston "bomb scare" is just a blatant example of our paranoia.
It is difficult to even say that we are living our lives when a childhood toy sends us into a spiral of fear. We all need to take a breather and make light of the situations that deserve it.
Missy Paniaguas is a junior in the College of Liberal Arts. She can be reached via e-mail at missy.paniaguas@purdueexponent.org.