Feb 1, 2007

UPDATE: 2 Arrested in Boston "Guerrilla-Gone-Awry"

So it seems that Boston officials are "livid" at Turner Broadcasting for the guerrilla advertising stunt-turned-bomb-scare.

So peeved in fact, that they've arrested the two poor suckers who were actually charged with putting the damn things up. Not the president of the company (Interference) that hired them. Not the marketing guy at Turner who hired the company. Just the two poor shlubs who probably got paid a few hundred dollars to climb all over Boston putting these things up.

It does raise an interesting issue though about guerrilla advertising: Why are so many large companies paying to essentially vandalize public (or private) property? I remember a non-ad world friend asking me this years ago when "snipe" postings (aka "wild postings") first came into vogue. Why would the likes of IBM, Nike and McDonald's pay someone to put posters on construction sites under cover of darkness? Who went around and did the actual posting? Who supplied them with the posters-- the ad agency? the client? the media company?

Some pictures for you:


The two poor shlubs who got arrested: Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28



Why Bostonians mistook the devices for bombs


What they look like when working.


2 comments:

HighJive said...

forgive the racial profiling, but i have no problem with authorities arresting white guys with dreds.

Alan Wolk said...

Well, HJ, he is described as an "artist." And those dreads just show how "artsy" he is ;)