1.31.2007

oh, internet, how you reveal and obscure


So apparently today there was a big flap in Boston, involving roads being closed and whatnot, because the Authorities were worried that a mysterious chunk of circuitboards and LEDs might be an explosive.

Hearing about this I called up some good ol' Internet news to investigate and saw the above picture stolen from cbs4boston.com of the offending device.

Now to my slacker 20-something eye, that is clearly the character Err obviously the character Ignignokt from Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I dig a little deeper and discuss this with some compatriots on an IRC channel and am pointed to flickr.com, specifically this photo taken on January 14th, 2007 (which I can't link to directly, apparently).

For those of you who didn't click on it, that's a distant photograph of a glowing Err made from LEDs on some kind of bridge overpass.

That flickr page contained a link to a particular blog, on which was this entry
in which it becomes clear that this is part of a viral marketing campaign done by Interference, Inc. (warning: lots of flash)

I can only assume that this is so-called guerilla marketing for the upcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie, which premieres next month, though it could simply be for the show itself. DEAR TIME WARNER I DEMAND ADVERTISING DOLLARS FOR PIMPING YOUR PRODUCT PLEASE FORWARD CONTRACTS

What I find interesting about this is the fact that this entire supposed bomb scare with its associated inconveniences could have been quickly debunked by a twenty-something internet slacker. I move that Boston's emergency services hire several people who are either of or familiar with the internet slacking demographic and their preferences in late night adult cartoon entertainment. For the good of America.

Additionally, I suppose I can only offer kudos to Interference, Inc. because if your marketing campaign causes a bomb scare, closes an Interstate highway and sets the Interblargh aflame with posts such as this then I guess it's doing its job. Here's hoping they have a hefty legal fund.

Further, this metafilter thread has dug up video of the Moonenites being placed by the Interference, Inc.-affiliated GlitchCrew. As their thank yous remind us, Graffiti Research Labs taught us how to do this quite a while ago (and they don't seem too happy about it).

No comments: