While I’m on the topic, I have to give a nod of the head to probably one of the greatest efforts in subliminal advertising ever carried out: the Boston Mooninite Scare. If you forgot, this was when this past January, people placed little LED displays around Boston of that character from Aqua Teen Hunger Force around Boston. People saw them, thought they were bombs in a terrorist attack, and freaked out. The whole city was on full alert for a while until they figured out that they were just harmless toys.
You have to admit, this is brilliant. Stupid, yes. Careless, yes. Selfish, definitely. But really, it’s genius. Aqua Teen Hunger Force was this little cult TV show on cartoon network that no one had heard of. They could have shelled out the money for advertising if they had wanted to. Or they could have just staged a fake terrorist attack and get the series discussed on every news program on every channel for the next two weeks.
As much as I hate watching ads on TV, I really do have to respect these new and creative techniques. I’m very curious to see what comes next.