Outdoor Electronic Advertising Blitz Leads to Bomb Scare in Boston

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 1, 2007 - 11:51am.

Boston - A multi-city advertising blitz for the Cartoon Network TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" that employed electronic displays placed in conspicuous public spots led to the shutting down of a highway and the deployment of bomb squads throughout Boston on Wednesday evening.

The confusion resulted when observers of the 1-foot-high electronic displays, which reportedly resemble "circuit boards" with connected wires and batteries, took them to be possible explosive devices.

"It's clear the intent was to get attention by causing fear and unrest that there was a bomb in that location," Assistant Attorney General John Grossman claimed at an arraignment of two men connected with the incident, Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens, representing the marketing firm involved, New York-based Interference, the Associated Press reported.

Both men were ordered held on bond on Thursday. Michael Rich, a lawyer for Berdovsky and Stevens, told the AP that the description of a "bomb-like device" could be used for any electronic device.

"If somebody had left a VCR on the ground it would have been a device with wires, electronic components and a power source," Rich told AP.