On one hand, I completely agree that the US has gotten a little too sensitive about these kind of things.
Our Atlanta office had some fake dynamite as a prop and it shut down the whole building all day because a cleaning crew worker thought it looked suspicious. The things was three sticks of fake bright red dynamite with "TNT" written on the side, a big timer on it and a big wick sticking out of it. I even think it has ACME also written on it. I shit you not. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that wasn't real.
On the other hand, I saw footage of these jackoffs tonight and they were waving to the camera and the guy with the dreads was commenting on how good his hair looked and all I could think was "great PR for advertising". Whether Boston overreacted or not, the thing practically shut down the whole city so I don't think my reaction would be as flippant and/or as arrogant as theirs because I wouldn't be thinking of myself, I would be thinking of advertising as a whole and how this could effect everything. But that's just me.
Plus I don't think the idea was that cool.
Paul Corrigan
· 2 years ago
I guess what seems lacking here is a true sense of corporate responsibility. Granted, the city may have overreacted. But you can't fault authorities for reacting to someone who has spotted a suspicious looking device mounted beneath a bridge. I've also heard that during the day the characters were not visible -- which probably made the wired boxes look even more suspicious.
It seems like someone from the group that created the campaign could have called Boston authorities right away when this thing started to hit the fan. I mean, it was on every news channel. You can't tell me they weren't seeing what was happening.
I also feel that at some level they should have looked into getting a permit to do this stunt. I'm all for guerrilla tactics, but this is Cartoon Network, for crying out loud. They should know better.
Chris
· 2 years ago
Third...Hey hope all is well. Agree with the comments above.
theo kie
· 2 years ago
I suppose I'm not in the mainstream, here - and I'm not going to get into the question of whether Boston officials overreacted or not. Who knows.
My question is whether advertisers have the right to turn any piece of public property into a marketing message. Whether it leads to mass panic or not, posting things like this onto city property is illegal. And I'm glad it is. I can give rock bands and small, bootstraps marketers some leeway - without this true, "guerilla" form of marketing, they don't have a route to get their message out. But I won't give huge corporations that inch, otherwise they will take the proverbial mile.
If property owners or city governments grant someone the right to use a wall or sidewalk, great. Property owners can do so. But I don't believe advertisers should be able to rub our faces in sales messages every time we turn a corner - not a care for the fact they're doing so illegally.
Call me old-fashioned, but at some point, marketing needs to leave us alone.
All Comments
On one hand, I completely agree that the US has gotten a little too sensitive about these kind of things.
Our Atlanta office had some fake dynamite as a prop and it shut down the whole building all day because a cleaning crew worker thought it looked suspicious. The things was three sticks of fake bright red dynamite with "TNT" written on the side, a big timer on it and a big wick sticking out of it. I even think it has ACME also written on it. I shit you not. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that wasn't real.
On the other hand, I saw footage of these jackoffs tonight and they were waving to the camera and the guy with the dreads was commenting on how good his hair looked and all I could think was "great PR for advertising". Whether Boston overreacted or not, the thing practically shut down the whole city so I don't think my reaction would be as flippant and/or as arrogant as theirs because I wouldn't be thinking of myself, I would be thinking of advertising as a whole and how this could effect everything. But that's just me.
Plus I don't think the idea was that cool.
It seems like someone from the group that created the campaign could have called Boston authorities right away when this thing started to hit the fan. I mean, it was on every news channel. You can't tell me they weren't seeing what was happening.
I also feel that at some level they should have looked into getting a permit to do this stunt. I'm all for guerrilla tactics, but this is Cartoon Network, for crying out loud. They should know better.
My question is whether advertisers have the right to turn any piece of public property into a marketing message. Whether it leads to mass panic or not, posting things like this onto city property is illegal. And I'm glad it is. I can give rock bands and small, bootstraps marketers some leeway - without this true, "guerilla" form of marketing, they don't have a route to get their message out. But I won't give huge corporations that inch, otherwise they will take the proverbial mile.
If property owners or city governments grant someone the right to use a wall or sidewalk, great. Property owners can do so. But I don't believe advertisers should be able to rub our faces in sales messages every time we turn a corner - not a care for the fact they're doing so illegally.
Call me old-fashioned, but at some point, marketing needs to leave us alone.