Adam at Universal Hub kept an eye on how Boston was held captive by a guerilla marketing campaign for an animated television show.

People are mostly pissed at Turner Broadcasting, the company behind the advertising campaign that set off the bomb scare.

Here’s a summary of the bomb scare and the problems it caused across the city.

The Boston Fire Department was removing some bomb-scare related object from the Charlesgate overpass this evening, but my camera was out of juice, so no pictures here.

Update: Oh, wow, welcome to Puritan City: Artist arrested for planting marketing figures.

The man who sent city and State Police rushing to defuse what they believed were explosive devices around the Boston region was arrested tonight.

I wonder on what charge he was arrested?

The answer:

…charged with placing a hoax device (Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 266, Section 102A½), and disorderly conduct.

Doesn’t sound like something that will stick, but it ought to put a healthy scare in guerilla marketers.

I recommend authors of guerilla-marketing books add this little episode as a cautionary example.

Fox25 WFXT-TV calls the whole thing a “hoax.” That strikes me as inaccurate. A scare, yes, but a hoax, no. As far as we know nobody intended for anybody to believe that the the devices were bombs. The end of Belgium is an example of a hoax. A hoax that will hopefully come true one day. [Thursday morning update: The Boston Herald's headline writer also calls it hoax, but the article it refers to doesn't, other than in context of the specific charge against that refugee from Belorussia who was arrested last night. Another headline in today's Herald refers to "black teen death rate," but the article itself doesn't mention any rates, only numbers. Headline writers gone wild!

More hoax haters: misanthropica, cosinezero.]

I must say, I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we find out tomorrow that the marketing agency in fact had been permitted to put all those weird devices where they did. [Thursday morning update: I guess they didn't:

Turner executives said they did not forewarn local authorities, because they never imagined the campaign would cause alarm. "It was not our intent to do anything but get attention for a television series, period," Phil Kent, chairman and chief executive of Turner, said in an interview last evening.

]

Here’s an interview from 2001 with the CEO of Interference Inc., the company that executed the ad campaign:

Q: Guerilla marketing has that obtrusive element that can hurt a campaign too. What’s the trick to make sure it’s appealing and not annoying?

If you put the effort into the campaign, it isn’t obtrusive at all. Of course, there is good and bad marketing. The goal is not just to be there but to be there at the right time and in the right place.

…

Q: What’s the single most exciting campaign you were involved in?

Heh.

Jesse Noyes notes on Boston Herald’s blog The Messenger that several ad agencies called him to let him know that they had nothing to do with the ad campaign. Quite funny.

Choose your crime wisely. Former Herald scribe Michael Gee assesses the situation:

There is no crime more vigorously prosecuted by the state than making public officials look like moronic horses’ asses.

But then he repeatedly refers to the incident as a hoax.

Thursday evening editorial:

I don’t think the moronic “starving artists” douchebags from Arlington deserve jail, but gee, isn’t it funny to watch this supposed political refugee from Belarus treat the legal process in the United States with such flippancy? Did he flee Belarus because the laws in that country don’t properly protect his “I’m-a-homeless-bum” haircut? Was he equally flippant when facing U.S. immigration officials and judges? And his fawning fans in Somerville and other exurbs are misguided. Their position seems to be that it’s terrible that we live in this era of fear and paranoia where civil liberties are threatened, but it’s OMG totally cool to treat the court as joke. The court is there to protect citizens - and other residents - from the petty and vengeful anger of the Mayor and other big shots. The proceedings should be treated with respect, both inside and outside the courthouse.

Now, what’s so commendable about taking money from The Man to deface the city?

Thursday night thought

I wonder what idiot op-ed writer the Globe will use tomorrow to tell us how we really should feel about and react to the bomb-scare and its aftermath. Whoever they use, I’m sure the op-ed is going to be tremendously stupid.

New York Times Company has written down the value of the New England Media Group - the core of which is The Boston Globe - by $814 million. NYTCo. acquired the Globe for $1.1 billion in 1993. I don’t know what current value NYTCo is putting on the newspaper, but I imagine it’s a good deal more than $1.1 billion minus $814 million.

(I guess the valuation should be somewhere north of $1.4 billion minus $814.4, as the New England Media Group include a Worcester newspaper that cost close to $300 million).

NYTCo’s Internet revenues are growing rapidly:

In the fourth quarter, our Internet revenues grew 42 percent to $84.8 million from $59.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. For the full-year 2006, Internet revenues rose 41.2 percent to $273.9 million from $193.9 million in 2005. Excluding the additional week, Internet revenues grew 35.3 percent in the fourth quarter and 39.2 percent for the full year. Internet businesses include our digital archives, NYTimes.com, Boston.com, About.com and Web sites of our other newspaper properties. In total, Internet businesses accounted for 9.1 percent of our revenues in the fourth quarter versus 6.7 percent in the 2005 fourth quarter. For the year, Internet revenues accounted for 8.3 percent of total revenues compared with 6.0 percent in 2005.

Things could be looking up for the Globe as “advertising has the opportunity to increase” because there are “elements that we are seeing in Boston… that could be beneficial in regards to the increase in the advertiser base” according to the January 31 NYTCo conference call (mp3 file).

HubPolitics is all excited about the T’s 450 surveillance cameras which have helped solved “about a dozen crimes” so far and wonders “How long before someone complains about civil rights violations or something else completely absurd?”

My completely absurd complaint is that cameras do little to prevent crimes and not a dadgum thing to stop them.

I say: Put more cops on the T and more criminals in our prisons.

That said, I don’t see camera surveillance on the T as a civil rights violation.

Doesn’t do much, but still…

Clark Kent.

The Bostonist dives into the minimum wage debate, spurred on by Senator Ted Kennedy’s outburst on the Senate floor:

As for arguments against an increase in the minimum wage, which hasn’t risen nationally in 10 years, all Bostonist can say is you try to live on $5.15 an hour for a week, especially in a state as expensive as Massachusetts. Massachusetts minimum wage is $6.75 an hour, which is higher than the national rate.

I’d like to thank the Bostonist for pointing out that $6.75 is higher than $5.15. I’m sure the Bostonist will thank me for pointing out that the minimum wage in Massachusetts rate is $7.50 per hour, which the Bostonist would have known had its writer clicked on the link she embedded.

In spite of my general free-marketeerism, I don’t particularly mind raising the federal minimum wage from its current level.

The MetroWest Daily News reports on Framingham’s, Marlborough, Malden’s, and Milford’s efforts to clamp down on illegal housing:

Authorities in those towns say they are trying to curb overcrowded apartments or illegal rooming houses to protect the health and safety of the people who live there, along with their neighbors.

While each town relies on zoning, local bylaws and state codes to fight overcrowding, local officials take different approaches to the problem.

“There are a gazillion rules on the books, and you’re using them judiciously to get an end result,” said Pam Wilderman, Marlborough code enforcement officer. “The end result is public safety.”

…

Milford also is working to get an apartment certification program up and running. Landlords will have to register rental units with the town, which will set a maximum occupancy based on the state’s sanitary code.

“The problem is persistent and it places many of our residents in danger, but it also puts a tremendous strain on community services,” Mazzuchelli said. “Other cities and towns are trying to address this as well.”

…

Chris Webb, director of public health for Malden, said the rule was created to deal with a “huge problem in this city with illegal apartments.”

Like Milford, those illegal units often divvy up any spare space into extra bedrooms, he said. The city also may consider a unit certification program, somewhat similar to Milford, Webb said.

Overcrowding presents concerns about tenement-style living, Webb said.

“I walk into a three-family that has 35 people living in it, and there isn’t so much as one living room and they congregate in the kitchen around the food,” Webb said. “There’s concern for the spread of disease.”

What’s driving the illegal housing problem are the enormous communities of illegal aliens in Massachusetts. Governor Deval Patrick could have had the state chip in by letting troopers take on some immigration enforcement responsibilities, but he prefers to pass the buck to towns and cities, based on the rationale that illegal aliens would rather not be bothered by immigration enforcement. I hope the Governor doesn’t decide that building-code and zoning-law enforcement are too bothersome, too.

One of the many plays big and small that contributed to the outcome in the AFC Championship game between New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts was a pass-intereference call on Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs in the deep right corner of New England’s end zone. Hobbs was flagged when he jumped, turned towards Wayne, and was hit in the back by the ball. No contact was made on the play.

Patriots.com writes:

“Face-guarding,” said CBS analyst and former Giants quarterback Phil Simms during the replay. “Ellis Hobbs jumps up, just tries to get in the way of Reggie Wayne. Does not see the football. Does not play it. Easy call.”

Not so, according to replay official Dean Blandino, who joined Bob Boylston in the booth that day.

In a recent posting by Vic Ketchman, Jaguars.com senior editor, Ketchman responded to a fan’s posting about the play, writing, “You are absolutely correct. Face-guarding was discontinued several years ago and I completely missed it.”

Apparently, Ketchman had already responded to questions about the play, attributing the call to face-guarding just like Simms and countless fans across the nation who tuned in to watch the most viewed AFC Championship game in over 20 years.
There is no NFL rule against face-guarding.

“I talked to Dean Blandino in the league office and he confirmed what you’re saying,” wrote Ketchman. “Ellis Hobbs should not have been flagged for pass-interference. He didn’t make contact with the receiver and in no way did Hobbs impede Reggie Wayne’s ability to catch the pass. Blandino confirmed that the incorrect call was made

It should be noted that WEEI’s mid-day host Michael Holley was one of the few Boston-areas sports journalists who defended the officials’ rather obviously botched call. I don’t why he did that considering that he’s one of the best football-heads in Massachusetts, but he did.

By the way, Colts fans, I’m not blaming the loss on the bad call. The Colts were better, but they did as a matter of fact benefit from the call.

Update: The NFL, which virtually always defends calls, no matter how bad they are, is insisting it was pass interference, because Hobbs supposedly made contact with Wayne. Writes The Boston Globe:

NFL vice president of communications Greg Aiello clarified remarks regarding the pass interference call against Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs in the third quarter of the AFC Championship game.

…

Aiello said the penalty was the correct call because there was contact made by Hobbs.

There was no contact.

Not that much needs to be said about Hannibal the Cannibal after that awful movie, Hannibal or whatever it is called, but if anything needs to be said, Udolpho says it.

Boca Grande has opened up shop in Kenmore Square. Boca Grande is a notch above popular Ana’s Taqueria in my opinion, but I have a hard time dealing with the Boca Grande food preparers. They speak a heavily accented mas rapido English that’s barely comprehensible and to make matters worse they don’t comprehend much of my English either. To top it off they go to work like the postman in that Jacques Tati movie, as if they’re constantly trying to break the world record in the shortest time to make a burrito, or quesdilla, or whatever they set out to slop and fold.

A financial show on Fox News Channel caught my attention this morning when one of the panel members on a stock market show mentioned Radio One Inc. Radio One is the company that last year sold WILD-FM in Boston to Entercom, which immediately changed the reprogrammed it as a simulcasting rock station. Boston’s African-American community was understandably upset at the switch over, but surprisingly little of the ire seemed to be directed at Radio One which, after all, was founded by a black woman and has a black CEO.

The FNC panel member pushed Radio One as likely to benefit from next year’s presidential election as campaign spending on black media will increase. The panel’s black contributor (I didn’t chance the names of any of the panelists) shot back that while Radio One is a great American success story, the company has grown too large for its current management and its stock will remain in the doldrums until the company is sold off or reinvigorated with new blood.

Radio One’s stock performance has been a source of discontent for analysts and investors for some time. The Washington Post reported in March of 2006:

Radio One put hip-hop and other genres of urban music on the nation’s airwaves. Buying underperforming radio stations and turning them into urban-music machines, the Lanham-based company became the largest black-owned, black-oriented radio station group in the country

Today, hip-hop is everywhere…

As urban music has gone mainstream, Radio One stock has lost close to two-thirds of its value in the past two years. The shares hit a five-year low of $8.13 on Thursday and closed 9 cents higher on Friday.

Yesterday, Radio One Inc.’s stock closed at $7.28.