Adult Swim Pranks Boston. Austin, Not So Much
UPDATE: We found the video of Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky placing the "fake bombs" around Boston. Plus, the bidding war reached a little over $5,000 before the item was removed from Ebay.
The stunt that brought Boston police and transportation its biggest scare since 9/11 yesterday was one Austin is very familiar with. Bostonist has all the coverage. Pictured above, this LED-lit advertisement stood over South Congress just north of Oltorf for more than a month.
Governor Deval Patrick was "dismayed" to find out that these devices were part of a marketing campaign by Turner Broadcasting. "It's a joke, and it's not funny." Turner released a statement soon afterward announcing that "the packages in question are magnetic lights that pose no danger."
38 blinking electronic signs were scattered across Boston, mostly under highway overpasses. The signs resembled a circuit board with protruding wires and batteries, standing one foot tall and lit up at night. The "mooninite" figure on the board shot the middle finger to passersby.
If you didn't catch any daytime news yesterday, then you might not know the extent to which Boston police responded and just how much the media covered it. But man, while it lasted, it was great to hear Wolf Blitzer say Aqua Teen Hunger Force over and over again. Two men, Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky, were arrested in conjunction with the ads and will face charges of placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct. Already, the busted ads are on eBay: the bid is currently at $5,001.
If you don't know about ATHF, check out the trailer for their new full-length feature film here. After that, if you don't get it, don't worry, you're not supposed to.
Top photo courtesy of strobie.
