Mooninites, marketing, and misplaced blame
I almost let this topic go by, but news came today that keeps it from being completely stale.....
I've been fascinated by the whole Boston Mooninite scare since I first read about it early last Wednesday, despite never having watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Since the first AP story I read just talked about "flashing devices depicting a cartoon character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force giving an obscene gesture", the first thing I did was search Flickr for pictures of the things. Turned out that for the past couple weeks people in various cities had been amused by them and even stolen or taken them apart.
The situation fascinates me partly because it put stupid post-9/11 pseudo-security overreaction on display for all to see, complete with a control group of nine non-overreacting cities, and two weeks without anybody mistaking the signs for bombs. But then it mixes in pop-culture, the vast divide between generations, a bit of electronics, and even advertising (my current source of income, sorta).
One amusing demonstration of the differing reactions was on display at Pandagon (which, btw, has more recently been in the midst of a separate controversy on which I may comment later), where a criticism of the ATHF signs as an example of "marketing crap invading our space" (written by a new co-blogger there) was soon followed by a post (by head Pandagoner Amanda) praising the "guerilla marketing" stunt as deserving of some kind of award.
Despite my current employer's industry, I'm not a fan of obtrusive advertising, I hate billboards and junk mail and newspaper inserts, I'm an anti-spam specialist, and for a long time I blocked web ads entirely. On the other hand, certain forms of advertising are useful and informative, and other forms are truly artistic -- and provide employment for otherwise-starving artists. I consider the Lite-Brite Mooninites to fall firmly into the latter category.
Meanwhile, of course, Boston and Massachusetts officials looked like idiots in front of the whole country, and blamed everyone else for their idiocy. In a just world, the mayor and attorney general (at least) would take responsibility for their errors in judgement, and possibly resign.
Instead, Turner Broadcasting agreed to pay Boston $2 million compensation, and today we learn that the head of the Cartoon Network has resigned because of the incident. Obviously this is not a just world.
I've been fascinated by the whole Boston Mooninite scare since I first read about it early last Wednesday, despite never having watched Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Since the first AP story I read just talked about "flashing devices depicting a cartoon character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force giving an obscene gesture", the first thing I did was search Flickr for pictures of the things. Turned out that for the past couple weeks people in various cities had been amused by them and even stolen or taken them apart.
The situation fascinates me partly because it put stupid post-9/11 pseudo-security overreaction on display for all to see, complete with a control group of nine non-overreacting cities, and two weeks without anybody mistaking the signs for bombs. But then it mixes in pop-culture, the vast divide between generations, a bit of electronics, and even advertising (my current source of income, sorta).
One amusing demonstration of the differing reactions was on display at Pandagon (which, btw, has more recently been in the midst of a separate controversy on which I may comment later), where a criticism of the ATHF signs as an example of "marketing crap invading our space" (written by a new co-blogger there) was soon followed by a post (by head Pandagoner Amanda) praising the "guerilla marketing" stunt as deserving of some kind of award.
Despite my current employer's industry, I'm not a fan of obtrusive advertising, I hate billboards and junk mail and newspaper inserts, I'm an anti-spam specialist, and for a long time I blocked web ads entirely. On the other hand, certain forms of advertising are useful and informative, and other forms are truly artistic -- and provide employment for otherwise-starving artists. I consider the Lite-Brite Mooninites to fall firmly into the latter category.
Meanwhile, of course, Boston and Massachusetts officials looked like idiots in front of the whole country, and blamed everyone else for their idiocy. In a just world, the mayor and attorney general (at least) would take responsibility for their errors in judgement, and possibly resign.
Instead, Turner Broadcasting agreed to pay Boston $2 million compensation, and today we learn that the head of the Cartoon Network has resigned because of the incident. Obviously this is not a just world.