Ad Campaign for Cartoon triggers bombscare in Boston

A circuit board depicting a middle-finger-waving moon man installed at nine cities around Boston triggered recurring bomb scares on Wednesday and prompted the closure of bridges and a stretch of the Charles River.

Following the news, officials from the F.B.I. and the Homeland Security Department as well as bomb squads, and extra police officers were deployed around the city.

As more and more devices (over a dozen) were discovered through-out the day by citizens and SWAT teams, a massive metro-wide bombscare was triggered in and around Boston.

But the hoax device turned out to be part of a marketing campaign by Turner Broadcasting to advertise a cartoon television show, “Aqua Teen Hunger Force”, police authorities reveal.

Dotted with blue and purple lights, the devices are shaped like “Aqua Teen” characters, mooninites. Another character, Err, is seen with slanted eyebrows and what appear to be raised middle fingers. A film based on the cartoon is scheduled to be released this year.

The first device was found hanging from a steel beam under Interstate 93 at the Sullivan Square subway station at around 8 a.m., followed by a series, at the Longfellow, at Boston University Bridges, in a room at the Tufts-New England Medical Center, on an overpass in Somerville and at intersections in Boston and in Cambridge.

Similar devices had been installed at New York, Los Angeles, California, Chicago, Illinois, Atlanta, Georgia, Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, Austin, Texas, San Francisco, California, Philadelphia and Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, Boston police on Wednesday night arrested Peter Berdovsky, 27, a freelance video artist from Arlington, Massachusetts and charged with placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct.

Authorities in Boston are also considering charges against Turner Broadcasting and could demand financial compensation for the massive disruption caused by the felony marketing campaign.

Apologizing for the inconvenience caused, Phil Kent, CEO and chairman of Turner Broadcasting System Inc. said, “We apologize to the citizens of Boston that part of a marketing campaign was mistaken for a public danger.”