# Aqua Teen "hoax" in Boston **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 31, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326 "2007-01-31T21:29:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/41 "2007-02-01T01:00:03Z")
Let’s all sing it now: “Lite Brite, making things with light. What a sight, making things with Lite Brite!” I think it’s hilarious (or possibly very sad) that news shows feel they have to mask out three little points of light that represent a middle finger. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/42 "2007-02-01T01:01:55Z")
[QUOTE=Ferret Herder] Or no one else noticed them, they decided their viral marketing effort was a failure, and someone decided to call the cops to get some attention? [/QUOTE] If it turns out that is what happened, then its a dick move and whoever did it was wrong and should probably be prosecuted. But there’s no evidence of that now. Here is the timeline according to the Boston Globe > [@Boston Globe](#): > > Today’s chaos began at 8:05 a.m. when an MBTA passenger noticed what was described as an object with wires and tubes stuck on a steel support girder underneath Interstate 93 about 12 to 15 feet above the bus depot at Sullivan Square Station in Charlestown. > > Transit police Lieutenant Salvatore Venturelli said this morning that the object had some components consistent with an improvised explosive device such as an electronic circuit board, but he made it clear it was not a bomb. > > At about 1 p.m., Boston police received reports of similar devices throughout the metropolitan area at locations that included the Longfellow and BU bridges and New England Medical Center. > > Shortly after 4 p.m., as city and state officials held a press conference to try to quell fears, Turner Broadcasting issued a statement taking responsibility for the stunt. My wild-ass guess about what happened was that the guy on the bus saw one of the Mooninites in the daylight, had no idea what it was, so they called in and reported something suspicious. The bomb squad did what they were trained to do and treated it like they would any other suspicious device. They figured out it was harmless. Somebody who did know what it was saw the cops treating an LED cartoon character like it was filled with plutonium, thought “What a bunch of dipshits!” and then called the cops with the locations of several other of the devices. (this accounts for the sudden flurry of reports five hours after the inital “sighting”. Suddenly, the decision makers who weren’t on the original scene and who didn’t know that the first “device” found was, in fact, a cartoon character who smokes while he shoots the bird, think they have uncovered a terrorist plot and alert the media. Sensationalism ensues until, three hours later, someone at Turner in Atlanta figures out what was going on and calls the Boston PD. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/43 "2007-02-01T01:04:48Z")
[QUOTE=Terrifel] Sadly, this climate of fear has been the normal state of affairs in America ever since the widespread Burma-Shave terror campaigns of the 1950s. [/quote] \*\*Brite Lites \*\* \*\*On a bridge too far \*\* \*\*They let folks see \*\* \*\*How dumb \*\* **PD in B are** I Burma Shave your dog! 🙂 > [@](#): > > Jesus Christ. It was a freaking ad. I’ve got one of those things across from my apartment right now; it’s been there for weeks (this one doesn’t light up though-- maybe it has a defective warhead). I would think the collector aspect of this should not be ignored, this AS thread shows that: [http://boards.adultswim.com/adultswim/board/message?board.id=3&message.id=550613&jump=true](http://boards.adultswim.com/adultswim/board/message?board.id=3&message.id=550613&jump=true) 1. The ads were designed to be able to be pulled down for collecting. (Get it NOW if you can!) 2. Noticed more than a week ago. 3. Penis did not ensue. (I bet Opal will get mad now!) ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/44 "2007-02-01T01:17:50Z")
The authorities’ overreaction isn’t so absurd when you realize that these things were stuck up under bridges, on highway support columns, and in other such places where they’re not very visible (unlike billboards, folks, no billboards involved here) and where a bomb would in fact be a very bad thing. Also, as I understand it, these “packages” would light up at night but not during the day, so what would be seen in daylight would be a vaguely technical-looking board with wires and batteries, sitting well above head height (unlike, say, graffiti), attached to structures whose bombing would cause massive chaos and quite likely significant loss of life. Stupid, stupid, stupid ad campaign. Turner’s going to be getting a very big bill for all this. Reminds me of the “Wee for a Wii” debacle – did nobody think through all the ways this could go wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/45 "2007-02-01T01:46:32Z")
So what happens if Turner refuses to pay? Is there a law against what they did? “They shoulda known we would go apeshit” is a poor basis for a lawsuit. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/46 "2007-02-01T02:02:43Z")
Holy Moly Jim Zarroli. My, what a bunch of douchebags we’ve become. Look, if we’re going to freak out about LEDs and circuit boards, I say we smash our computers. The insurgents may be controlling them! ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/47 "2007-02-01T02:06:31Z")
[Now someone’s done got themselves arrested](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_re_us/suspicious_devices) ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/48 "2007-02-01T02:15:22Z")
Bravo, \*\*vibrotronica \*\*. That’s sounds just about right. Bostonians should be ashamed of themselves but instead of being ashamed they’re blaming AS for scaring them. Just sad. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/49 "2007-02-01T02:27:57Z")
[QUOTE=DxZero] [Now someone’s done got themselves arrested](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070201/ap_on_re_us/suspicious_devices) [/QUOTE] I see by the [photo](http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070201/480/ny20402010027&g=events/us/013107bostondevices;_ylt=AjqJiki1feNo.LPUpy3crgxH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bGk2OHYzBHNlYwN0bXA-) that accompanies the article that the terrorists, or whatever, depend on Duracell Coppertop batteries. Now I don’t know whether to buy them myself, or boycott the company. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/50 "2007-02-01T02:36:23Z")
A press conference by the state Attorney General, the Boston Police Commissioner, and the Mayor of Boston just wrapped up. Among the information: Two devices initially reported – one under the Longfellow Bridge, the other at New England Medical Center – were reported to be pipe bombs, and one of those in fact was not part of the ad campaign. City officials weren’t notified by Turner until 5:00 p.m. – an hour after the previous press conference announcing that it was all a hoax, and several hours after initial reports of the scare appeared on Turner’s subsidiary CNN. The mayor’s office received no call from Turner until 9:00 p.m., and that was from a PR flunky, not an executive of Turner. Mayor Menino himself has yet to speak with any Turner representative. A few months previously, a similar sort of guerilla compaign was undertaken on the West Coast in which mysterious boxes were planted in various office buildings, leading to a number of bomb scare calls to authorities. Since this happened in Los Angeles, I’d say it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that at least some of the people involved in this stupid stunt would have known about the problems caused by the previous one. Oh, yeh, almost forgot – no firm numbers yet on what this cost, but it’s over a hundred thousand just in direct personnel costs. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/51 "2007-02-01T02:37:02Z")
YouTube video of the guys putting the signs up. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/doD_VpT_yAY/hqdefault.jpg "Boston Terror LEDs ATHF Advertisement Bomb") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doD_VpT_yAY) ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/52 "2007-02-01T02:41:54Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] So what happens if Turner refuses to pay? Is there a law against what they did? “They shoulda known we would go apeshit” is a poor basis for a lawsuit. [/QUOTE] That’s what’s so pathetic about this: any investigation is just so much drama in an attempt to save face. The authorities humiliated themselves over a neon sign, and now they’re looking to arrest someone for making them look like jackasses. ---
**Author:** ![uglybeech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/82dd89/32.png) [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/53 "2007-02-01T02:43:16Z")
Hey, listen feel sorry for us Bostonians. We may not have been attacked by terrorists today, but we did just find out the people who are supposed to protect us are completely retarded. I’m not sure which is worse. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/54 "2007-02-01T02:43:34Z")
All I can gather from all of this is that the Boston PD must be staffed entirely by Plutonians. I suggest we spank them all with moon rocks. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/55 "2007-02-01T02:43:54Z")
I’d make some stickers, with “Think this looks like a bomb? Maybe if I added a few wires and LEDs it would help?” and stick them on trash cans, abandoned paper boxes, hell, mailboxes, newspaper vendors, things that would ACTUALLY be sensible for a “bomb hoax”, and watch what happened. If fact, I remember a drink that had a bottle in the shape of a grenade, la bomba or something like that. I wonder if Joe Q public would think THAT was a bomb threat as well. Bomb hoax. Sheesh. Like Joe Q public even knows what a bomb is supposed to look like, apart from “It has wires and LEDs!” LEDs. Gah. Integral for any self respecting bomb, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/56 "2007-02-01T02:51:13Z")
[QUOTE=Tabby\_Cat] I’d make some stickers, with “Think this looks like a bomb? Maybe if I added a few wires and LEDs it would help?” and stick them on trash cans, abandoned paper boxes, hell, mailboxes, newspaper vendors, things that would ACTUALLY be sensible for a “bomb hoax”, and watch what happened. If fact, I remember a drink that had a bottle in the shape of a grenade, la bomba or something like that. I wonder if Joe Q public would think THAT was a bomb threat as well. Bomb hoax. Sheesh. Like Joe Q public even knows what a bomb is supposed to look like, apart from “It has wires and LEDs!” LEDs. Gah. Integral for any self respecting bomb, I suppose. [/QUOTE] People in Oklahoma city didn’t think one would look like a pickup truck. People in New York didn’t think one would look like a 767. And for some strange reason I have to remove my shoes before I can get on a plane. I miss the good ol days when a bomb looked like the classic Boris and Natasha bowling ball with a 2 inch wick. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/57 "2007-02-01T02:52:45Z")
[QUOTE=GIGObuster] YouTube video of the guys putting the signs up. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/doD_VpT_yAY/hqdefault.jpg "Boston Terror LEDs ATHF Advertisement Bomb") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doD_VpT_yAY) [/QUOTE] The first comment on that video link speaks my opinion entirely. > [@](#): > > these guys totally shut down my city… oh, no wait, the retards running it did. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/58 "2007-02-01T02:56:02Z")
[QUOTE=Khan] That’s what’s so pathetic about this: any investigation is just so much drama in an attempt to save face. [/QUOTE] Ding ding ding! Someone from Homeland Security even referred to it as a “hoax.” From whence are these officials divining that the marketers WANTED people to think it was a bomb? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/59 "2007-02-01T02:58:57Z")
[QUOTE=BubbaDog] People in Oklahoma city didn’t think one would look like a pickup truck. People in New York didn’t think one would look like a 767. And for some strange reason I have to remove my shoes before I can get on a plane. [/quote] Yeah, that’s why I wet myself and call the police every time I see a pickup truck, a plane, or a shoe. > [@](#): > > I miss the good ol days when a bomb looked like the classic Boris and Natasha bowling ball with a 2 inch wick. Yeah, 1770 was a good year wasn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2007, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326/60 "2007-02-01T03:01:12Z")
> [@](#): > > A few months previously, a similar sort of guerilla compaign was undertaken on the West Coast in which mysterious boxes were planted in various office buildings, leading to a number of bomb scare calls to authorities. Since this happened in Los Angeles, I’d say it’s not too much of a stretch to believe that at least some of the people involved in this stupid stunt would have known about the problems caused by the previous one. No. These are not “mysterious,” nondescript items. They are light-up pictures of either a pink or green pixel character. In the Yahoo! article about the arrest, it said that one of the things was reported as a pipe bomb. Pipe bomb my hirsute, Slavic ass! These were not meant to resemble anything sinister! Like **Marley** said, **This was not a goddamned hoax!** It is a LIE to characterize it as one, unless the person who first made the call had known what they were. Once they stop sputtering and stammering out something remotely resembling a legal argument, I predict that they will try to say mischief was intended because Ignignokt and Err are themselves mischievous. I expect no less from such titans of level-headedness and restraint. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aqua-teen-hoax-in-boston/390326.md?page=4)