7 Marketing Stunts Gone Horribly Wrong

boston adult swimAdult Swim’s Beantown Bomb Scare
Shortly before Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters premiered in 2007, marketing teams installed Lite Brite-like LED displays around the city depicting a robot character named Ignigokt flipping the bird. Funny, right?

Well, the displays went mostly unnoticed for weeks before Boston’s finest hopped to, incorrectly identifying them as bombs and consequently shutting down several roads, bridges, and waterways as a precaution. The prank resulted in two arrests, the resignation of the Cartoon Network’s general manager, and a wicked-large $2 million “Whoops! Sorry!” payout from the network to the city of Boston.