Cartoon Scare
FEBRUARY 3, 2007 Listen to this Story
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A guerilla advertising campaign caused panic in Boston this week. Light-Brite style circuit boards with cartoon figures were hung up on public structures, like bridges and Fenway Park. Authorities thought they were bombs and parts of the city came to a halt. Turns out it was a promotion for "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," a Cartoon Network show. So in this post 9/11 world, was the reaction reasoned? We talk with two security experts, Bruce Schneier, a security technologist in Minneapolis, and David Stephenson, a homeland security consultant who lives in Boston, where the events unfolded.
Notes from the Underground, by Web Producer Neille Ilel...
When Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens were staging a Theater of the Absurd with their press conference about hair on Thursday, some were cringing. The hoopla in Boston this week over the guerilla marketing tactics of Interference Inc, a Public relations firm hired by Comedy Central, seemed to draw a clear line: jumpy law enforcement officials versus media savvy kids playing the system. But the line wasn't very clear to another group: street artists.
"If it's between the state and the corporations, that's not much of a choice," said one seasoned street artist. In order to stand up to law enforcement in this case, you've got to align yourself with "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," owned by the Cartoon Network, in turn owned by Turner Broadcasting, which is part of Time Warner. If that's not The Man, who is?
For years those in the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) scene in particular, have found ways to make art and make statements in public spaces. Whether the medium is graffiti, posters, chalk drawings or weird LED light displays, they've crept around police and property owners, sometimes to make a drab place beautiful, and sometimes just to leave a mark. Whatever the motivation, it's not been to sell something.
The "LED Throwies" used by Stevens and Berdovsky were actually developed as open source communication technology by the extremely anti-corporate group Graffiti Research Lab. They wrote on their web site, "This is NOT the Work of the GRLa€¦ Just more mindless corporate vandalism from a guerilla marketer who got busted. Interference Inc, welcome to the world of being misunderstood, scapegoated, demonized and wanted by the law. Still wanna be a graffiti artist?"
Another self-described disillusioned street artist wondered how all the billboards, bus shelters, train cars and television air time could not be enough space for the Cartoon Network to advertise on. Was it absolutely necessary to encroach on public space that was not for sale?
The one thing all agreed on was that Stevens and Berdovsky would get off, because they should, but mostly because they're working for the man. If it were a lone street artist freaking out the city of Boston, forget it.
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- Music Bridge:
- Five Star Group Travel
- Artist: Root 70
- CD: Heaps Dub (nonplace)
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