Lite Brites Shut Down Bean Town

But to no benefit of the perpetrators, oddly enough.

Really, I'm puzzled as to why Aqua Teen Hunger Force's little electronic "art" campaign in Boston hasn't exploded into increased ratings for the cartoon, at least right off the bat. I had a theory last week that's apparently collapsing with the results.

First of all, the city's response: post 9-11 knee-jerking? Perhaps so, but as a "publicist", you've just got to account for that paranoia. You can't place anything resembling bomb-like devices in strategic areas like bridges without anticipating that kind of reaction. At least after the first two or three weeks they're up there, apparently. That's when Bostonians walk pass them at night for the eleventh time and think, You know what? I really don't like this little guy's attitude.

The circuit boards and exposed wires don't help matters, and even a social retard can expect the multi-million dollar cavalry being called in.

Which I'm pretty sure these marketing fellows did, and that's the interesting part.

What I'm getting at is that Turner Broadcasting got fined $2 million for the stunt, which they probably predicted would be a small price to pay for the widespread exposure. Compare that to the $2.6 million it takes to air your talking animals/cubicle humor/hilarious head injuries/etc. during the Superbowl, and you'll figure why illegal publicity can be preferable to traditional advertising. Guerilla advertisers post inappropriate things where they shouldn't by pure convention. Turner and company just did it to an impressive yet asinine scale.

Regardless of whether or not they reached more people than a Superbowl spot, the Lite-Brites were an acceptable approach to the target audience. I know the kind of folks who'd enjoy Aqua Teen, and the "bad" publicity wouldn't deter them, in theory, from watching the show due to some moral conflict. Not that established viewers would boycott the show, necessarily; if anything, they'd probably rally behind the stunt.

"The Mooninite was flipping the bird at people? Du-u-u-ude, that's ownage!"

So honestly, I don't know what to make of this one -- you'd think the ploy would have increased interest in the show, not to mention the Aqua Teen movie that's approaching release. Any theories?