What do Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Boston have in common? Well, apparently the love of Lite-Brites and making sure the entire city knows about it. Cartoon Network hired a firm to do some guerilla marketing for the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. Nine electronic light boards that had pictures of mooninites on them triggered bomb scares around Boston, which made authorities close highways, two bridges and a large stretch of the Charles River before bomb squads determined the devices were harmless, according to CNN. I guess it may be understandable to misconstrue these Lite-Brites for destructive weapons considering they were placed in very weird locations, such as under bridges and highway overpasses.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a 15 minute cartoon aired on Cartoon Network as a part of the late night programming called Adult Swim. The mooninites are secondary characters on the show. To use these characters as the focal point of the advertisement seems odd because many people don't even know what the cartoon is about let alone any of the characters. It's definitely strange but maybe they were striving for a different type of publicity and this extravaganza may just have been their dream come true.

Guerilla marketing has not only caused huge controversy around the city of Boston and many other major cities but it has also spurred an overload of buzz marketing for the show. The mooninites flipping off the public may not have had the success that the makers may have wanted but they definitely made out with the publicity they received from the press. What a great news release to start off the new year!

This story was the topic of discussion in a few of my classes. Many laughed and thought it was unbelievable that Boston would go to such lengths before knowing exactly what was going on. I'm sure that we and by we, I mean college students, are just a small part of the population who laughed. Many people, were appalled and very upset about the whole incident. The people of Boston were probably scared out of their minds at the time of city shutdown, but to direct their anger at the advertisers doesn't seem right to me. They decided on an idea and went for it. Yes, it was a little sketchy but I think the people of Boston should be upset with the authorities. They didn't take the time to see what was going on before shutting down one of the biggest cities in New England. I'm sure angry onlooker's will be criticizing the show, the network and the advertising firm for a long time to come but criticize all you want because Aqua Teen Hunger Force will still be getting the buzz advertising they were looking for.