Aqua Teen PR stunt bombs
p2pnet.net News:- They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but all the negative press surrounding Aqua Teen Hunger Force doesn’t appear to have done much for it.
Turner Broadcasting System and Interference Inc, creators of the hoo-ha which culminated in a Boston farce, have been ordered to pay $2 million to, “reimburse federal, state and local agencies for their response to the incident, which led officials to close a highway, bridges, subway stations and part of the Charles River for hours after dozens of the devices, which resemble Lite-Brite toys, were found in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville”.
p2pnet suggested the $2M might have been money well spent. But it looks as though we were wrong, dead wrong, because according to Associated Press, the exercise produced a mere 6,000 new viewers.
“The cartoon averaged 386,000 viewers last week among its targeted demographic of 18-to-24-year-olds, according to Nielsen Media Research,” says AP.
“The previous week, the show averaged a virtually identical 380,000 among young viewers.”
Also See:
money well spent – Aqua Teen costs Turner, February 6, 2007
Associated Press – `Aqua Teen’ hungers for higher ratings, February 6, 2007
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February 9th, 2007 at 9:14 am
it’s a stupid premise for a stupid cartoon… I think people realize that
February 9th, 2007 at 10:32 am
It is not Turner nor the advertising team that are at fault here. The fault lies in overreaction by local, state, and federal officials. How someone can confuse a glorified lightbrite with a destructive device is beyond me.
By taking the two million dollars out of the budget of responding agencies, these agencies might be motivated into reducing their incompetencies. I guess that every time a government agency messes up, it will be citizens that are forced to pay.
By the way, I cannot stand Ted Turner, or his stupid channels with all of their pop-up ads and drivel. However, in this case, I do not believe that he should be blamed.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
This was advertising for the series? I thought it was for the upcoming movie coming out in March.
Either way, if people weren’t so incompetent and paranoid the promos wouldn’t have been so costly. The *Ignorant people who caused a panic* because they aren’t fans of the show make the company pay 2 million because they’re *ignorant people who caused a panic*… makes perfect sense.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
A photo of one of the devices can be seen here:
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/us/013107bostondevices/im:/070201/480/ny20402010027
A seemingly homemade device with visible batteries and wires would scare the heck out of me, if I didn’t know for sure, what it was and who put it there. The image created by the lights, with it’s angry expression and middle finger in the air, would not be too unreasonable to associate with a possible terrorist with a sick sense of humor.
I don’t think the authorities were wrong to err on the side of caution.
February 9th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
fine them, fuck it
waste of reading time
February 10th, 2007 at 9:20 am
I think these “devices” were up for two weeks before anyone thought they might be bombs. How Boston police thinks it did a good job is beyond me. The two people hired to put them around the city are more innocent than anyone and they face felony charges. Again…beyond me.
All around Boston, How many police officers drove past these each and every day. Fire officials, homeland security, swat and bomb squad members, army, navy, FBI agents, mimes, and reporters all drove , walked, jogged or skipped past these until one day two weeks later, and even then only in one city did someone suspect malice.
Hell. I’ll bet the State Governor and the Prosecutor saw these more than once.
Such foolishness I guess requires…no demands scape goats.
February 12th, 2007 at 5:45 am
Your an idiot! If they DIDN’T take this seriously and this turned out to be something more, I guess you would not mind having peoples lives on your hands?
Get it straight! It was the ADVERTISING COMPANY that placed it there under bridges and other places a terrorist would place a bomb. They are the ones at fault, period.
And don’t give me a dumbass remark about how people should have known all along it was only used for advertisement! Does putting something UNDER A BRIDGE where it cannot be easily seen sound like it is being advertised?
They knew what they were doing and I hope they get fined big time for it!