(no subject)

[xiphias]

At this point, if I were a spokesperson for the Boston Police Department, I'd release a statement saying, "Well, yeah, but we just really hate Adult Swim. I mean, sure we knew what it was, but if you got a chance to blow up a Cartoon Network character, wouldn't you jump on it?"

(Background if you've missed it: the MBTA in Boston was shut down for a while because of "suspicious devices" found and blown up, which were actually pictures of a character from Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. Apparently, these have appeared in other cities, too, today, and Cartoon Network is soon to be releasing a movie including them. Boston appears to be the only city which has responded to viral marketing by blowing it up.)

Hey, yeah -- that would be another good thing approach for the spokesperson -- "Hey, wait until the first weekend grosses for 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force' are released. THEN you tell ME if we were wrong to call in the bomb squad."

Comments

[vonandmoggy.livejournal.com]

That just cracked me up...think people are jumpy at all? "LOOK! A talking milkshake, it must be a bomb hoax!" *blows it up*

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

Was it the Robot Chicken?

[gingicat]

Poor browngirl works in the high school next to the BU Bridge. She's had parents calling and freaking out at her all day. I bet (heck, I hope!) the kids are going to go home and laugh their asses off at their parents.

[fibro-witch.livejournal.com]

Most of Boston was shut down all day. I think it was a stupid idea of Cartoon Network, and I hope the city charges them for the removal fees.

[ron_newman]

Not "Most of Boston". I work at Union Wharf, in the North End, and my entire awareness of this incident is from LiveJournal and other Internet sites. I even walked to North Station for the 1pm official ribbon-cutting of the new station lobby, and didn't hear a word about it.

[redknight.livejournal.com]

I work in Cambridge, a few blocks from the Galleria, and I didn't know anything about the incident until my boss mentioned that I-93 was closed (I usually take surface roads to get to work).

[anhelometuo.livejournal.com]

You mean you hope Cartoon Network is charged for the explosives that it cost to blow up one of their advertisements?

How amusing.

[badmagic.livejournal.com]

How were you able to resist titling this post "Anti-viral"?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Well. . . I got to say, I've started to get annoyed enough at viral marketing that I rather support the Boston Police's actions in this case.

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

"viral-marketing"? 'splain, please. (I thought all advertising was infecting our psyches and souls.)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

"Viral marketing" is any "non-traditional" advertisement schemes, designed to work mainly by getting people to talk to each other about the thing, instead of just seeing the ad.

Here's an example: a few years back, Hennessy cognacc had no market share in young twenties-and-thirties drinkers. Everyone who drank the stuff was seventy years old, which isn't really a good long-term plan for them.

So they hired a few dozen good-looking women to go into bars in New York and a couple other cities, flirt with guys, and when the guys wanted to buy them drinks, have them buy them Hennessy.

It worked, and Hennessy now has a certain market share in my age range and younger.

That's viral marketing. Another, cheaper thing that people do nowadays is make really outrageous ads that could never get on television, but put them up on YouTube or Google Video, and have people see them and then tell their friends about it.

My personal favorite of these is the suicide bomber one. Okay, as that page says, that particular one was probably NOT designed as a viral marketing ad, but was rather something the ad agency put together to promote their agency, to show to other potential clients to demonstrate their creativity. Still, it makes me want the product. Go ahead and watch it, Mom -- a lot of people found it offensive, but you've got the same sense of humor that I do. In the ad, nobody gets hurt who doesn't deserve it.

And then a third form of viral marketing is something like this, where you have some sort of odd art project show up that references some product.

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

Definitely offensive! But I have to admit that I laughed. How sick is that?

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Does it make you want to buy the car, too?

[anhelometuo.livejournal.com]

Looks like ATHF got the publicity that they need! To top it off, they can use this in the trailer!

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

You have to admit - those little lite-brite characters were scarey-looking!