Bomb scare blows up in Boston's face

The city of Boston ground to a virtual halt Wednesday, after a number of suspicious packages were discovered on bridges, highways and bus depots.

Bomb squads were called in, roads were blocked off, and even the Charles River was closed to traffic during the scare.

Minor problem. Turns out the devices were actually a guerrilla marketing scheme by Turner Broadcasting to promote a new film featuring the Cartoon Network cult show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. The devices were magnetic boards with LEDs that displayed characters from the show giving the finger to Boston.

Now that the scare is over, there's plenty of jokes to be found online. Videos of the plates being installed are available online, and now, one of the plates is up for sale on eBay.

Blog community response:

"They were all Time Warner billboards, in other words, in what has been the most embarrassing response by a city to a nerdy cult tv show since Minneapolis called in the National Guard to fight the robot menace posed by Mystery Science Theater 3000."
--Wonkette

"You'd think Interference Inc. would have trouble getting work again after this but, then again, they achieved their goal: publicity for their client. One wonders what the fallout will be for 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force,' a show of which I'd never heard. Will all the free publicity help? Or will this negative association kill the show?"
--Outside the Beltway

"Strangely, Turner stated that these viral ads have been in place in 10 major cities for between two and three weeks, which leaves one to wonder why no one noticed the strange, pixelated cartoon characters flipping the bird until just this afternoon, and just in Boston."
--Engadget