Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb hoax

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann Feb 2, 2007

The battle over the battery-powered boxes promoting the upcoming Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie has quickly descended to a Comedy of Errors that would leave satirists like Wilde, Swift and Moliére shaking their heads, going,"Wow, we can't even make this **** up!"

First round of the Comedy of Errors goes to Interference Inc. and the Cartoon Network, the people who devised and approved this promotional stunt: Somebody should have looked at this during concept and development and said, "Battery-powered boxes left in random locations in a post-9/11 USA? Not a good idea, people."

(It's actually a twisted tribute to the effectiveness of Homeland Security that Americans are so complacent as to not think that anything was wrong with this piece of publicity. Trust me: something like this would have never got off the ground in the U.K. or anywhere else in the world.)

Round 2 goes to the various politicians and police for their semi-hysterical posturing in the wake of the scare. It didn't take long for everyone to realize that this was merely a promotional stunt for an upcoming movie, and not a legitimate bomb threat. And the police had every right to be pissed.

"It's clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location," huffed Boston Assistant Attorney General John Grossman in a display of overacting worthy of William Shatner. Unfortunately, it only served to cut the moral high ground right out from under those who had a right to be angry.

Chicago police's demanding that Turner Broadcasting reimburse them for the time spent finding the boxes was also ludicrous. Turner had gone into full damage-control mode after the Boston incident, contacting police in various other cities and telling them where the boxes were. The company had even sent people out to collect the boxes as well; Chicago police had actually detained some men when they found them picking up the boxes; they were Turner employees specifically sent out to remove the devices.

It's also interesting to note that the devices had been placed in those locations for 2-3 weeks before anyone got in touch with police. Whoever had seen them prior to the blow-up didn't think they were that much cause for concern.

Other cities around the United States didn't see the devices as frightening. Police in Portland, Los Angeles and San Francisco said they knew about them but realized they were harmless. New York police contacted the Cartoon Network when the Boston incident went down; the Cartoon Network told them where the devices were, and police picked them up without incident. Their low-key reaction to this situation is a breath of fresh air next to Chicago and Boston's overblown grandstanding.

Overall, the Aqua Teen Hunger Force debacle is stupdity piled on top of stupidity. And, as a result, no one's coming out smelling like a rose.