Shiny alien sparks terror alert
Thursday, February 1, 2007
A US TV network had to apologise after it admitted planting nine mysterious electronic packages around Boston, sparking a series of bomb scares in the city. Major roads, bridges and part of Charles River were closed off and bomb squads summoned to deal with the perceived threat, in the city's largest security alert since the September 11 attacks in 2001. The 'bombs' were actually brightly lit depictions of cartoon aliens called Mooninites. An easy mistake to make.
The alert began in the morning, when one of the items was discovered attached to a steel beam underneath a bridge. The area was cordoned off, the bomb squad was deployed, and the small, shining image of an alien giving the finger was destroyed in a controlled explosion. At least eight other devices were discovered throughout the day, sparking the massive, city-wide security alert.
Turner Broadcasting admitted the security scare was the result of a misguided marketing ploy designed to advertise Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a late-night programme on its cartoon network. A company statement said the packages were 'magnetic lights that pose no danger'. 'We regret that they were mistakenly thought to pose any danger,' the statement added.
Two men, Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28, were arrested on Wednesday night on felony charges of placing a 'hoax device'. Berdovsky, a local artist, documented his work in installing the devices (on behalf of 'guerilla marketing' firm Interference Inc) on his website. The promotional gizmos had been in place in Boston, and nine other major American cities including New York and Los Angeles, for several weeks before anybody thought that they might be bombs.
<embed src="https://www.liveleak.com/player.swf" width="450" height="370" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="https://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" flashvars="autostart=false&token=2a64964ab9">
-----------------
I'm so happy the artists involved have been charge with a felony offence - that's what's required when dealing with people who have a sense of humour.
