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Aqua Teen Stunt Costs Turner and Agency $2M
Posted by
Zonk
on Tue Feb 06, 2007 03:11 AM
from the can-you-say-extortion dept.
from the can-you-say-extortion dept.
evw writes "The NYTimes reports that the Turner Broadcasting System and the ad agency responsible have reached a $2M settlement with the city of Boston and state and federal agencies that treated the light boards placed around the city as an act of terrorism (as covered earlier on /.) Half of the money is to cover direct costs associated with the response. The other $1M goes to 'goodwill funds' that will be used for response training and public outreach."
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Aqua Teen Hunger Force Brings Boston to a Halt 804 comments
An anonymous reader writes "An ad campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force featuring the Mooninites Ignignot and Err caused major security concerns in Boston, MA when magnetic light displays were mistaken for possible bombs. The displays included one of Ignignot flipping the bird (as hard as he could), but Gov. Deval Patrick was not amused."
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Politics: Cartoon Network CEO Resigns Over Aqua Teen Scare 710 comments
DesertBlade writes "Jim Samples, CEO of Cartoon Network, has resigned over the bomb scare prompted by the Aqua Teen marketing campaign. Turner (CN's parent company) ended up paying over 2 million in restitution to the city of Boston, and a man with a thirteen year record at the company has lost his job. Though many people have been citing this as 'the ultimate successful advertising campaign', there have obviously been real consequences from the incident." By virtue of the consequences of the campaign, was this now officially a bad idea? Or is your opinion that this is all far too much knee-jerking? Have your say in the comments.
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Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Insightful)
Furthermore, think about how many people (on the fringes of their target demographics) that hadn't heard of ATHF are now keenly aware of the show? With the movie [imdb.com] coming up.. yea.. $2M is cheap.
FTFA: "Ms. Coakley said the amount was more than the state would have obtained through litigation. The settlement shields the companies from civil or criminal liability by state and local agencies, Ms. Coakley said."
Too bad ATHF jumped the shark a bit (IMHO) after season 3. And even more bad that the two poor schmucks working for the ad agency are still charged with crimes. They should be set free, and whatever moron phoned in a litebrite as a "bomb" (and the corresponding police moron who agreed with him) should be looking at potential liability. WTF is wrong with our government. Does anybody remember the post-9/11 homeland security debacle with Tom Ridge reccomending people use duct tape and plastic sheeting [chicagotribune.com] to protect themselves from terrorists.. and then several people dying by asphyxiating themselves in their own homes? The sad fact is that our society has become so stupid and centered around sensationalist events that terrorists don't even need to make bombs anymore.. just scatter throughout several major cities a few dozen briefcases with litebrites affixed to them, and watch the panic ensue.
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Insightful)
And over here, it's causing more laughter than the ATHF film ever will
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:4, Interesting)
Didn't know I need to point that out.
What is your point?
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Funny)
You are referring to Rhode Island, right?
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Funny)
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/ducttape.asp [snopes.com]
Also, the article summary states that Boston and the feds are treating the sign board debacle as an "Act of terrorism". TFA, uses the term "fears or terrorism". For fuck's sake, can we have a little honesty in the headlines? Pretty please.
And lastly, it's a little bit ironic that the agency responsible for the campaign is called Interference, Inc...
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Insightful)
What kind of terrorist makes a bomb with a giant light up image of a cartoon character? What kind of terrorist places these highly visible and attention grabbing bombs in the most visible of locations? And what kind of terrorist leaves them sitting out there out in the open glowing their prescience for weeks without detonating them?
On a whole I don't fault whoever it was that called it in. If someone sees something out of place they SHOULD call it in. I do fault the local government for blowing it so ridiculously out of proportion. Closing down major highways, tunnels and devoting every last form of city protection to investigating what is essentially nothing more then graffiti.
That's not even taking into consideration that in a city that fits the profile of the stereotypical college town NO ONE in any of the enforcement agencies had heard of the show, none of them had see the posters at the movie theaters, none of them had seen the neon green Ignignok shaped DVD case taking up shelf space at the local BestBuy or Blockbuster, or seen any TV advertisements, or spent any time watching TV with the hundred of thousands of college students in Boston.
Perhaps the worst bit is if it WAS actually a terrorist attack and those actually were bombs... they'd all be dead because it took them weeks before they even noticed these vibrantly self advertising devices.
Please stop right there... (Score:4, Insightful)
An IED would be a bit bigger than this- and if not, where it was PLACED wouldn't have done anything to anyone.
As a bomb, these things would have been worthless- at most you would have put about 1 pound of HE in it.
One pound of C4 MIGHT hurt someone at point blank range or at a slightly larger range if made up to be
a fragmentation device. Neither were evident and at the distances they were placed they wouldn't have
been effective at all as IEDs (I saw the video footage of their Boston sign placement run- sorry, don't
buy the IED angle at all with this whole thing.
If the signs had been a biochem weapon, the Police did precisely the wrong thing as the EOD they did on
one of the signs would have spread the damn weaponized substance all over the damn place. You don't
just EOD something unless you know precisely what it is. Too much risk of bad things happening with it.
Here's a hint... A terrorist is NOT going to go about doing something like this, and if so, they'd have
already accomplished it because the signs had been up for about a week before ANYONE noticed. And doing
these little signs that draw attention to themselves wouldn't be how they would have went about this- they'd
have hidden it in the common trash that seems to lie about in this town in varying places and it would have
went off. Worse, they're not going to go do a low payoff thing like what Boston keeps trying to paint this
looking like. They're going to go for another 9-11 type payoff and there's still quite a few things that
the bad guys can do to us that we're NOT worrying about.
Boston, and to a lesser extent, the Feds, way overreacted to the situation.
Re:Free advertisement.. er.. low cost. (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, don't tell me terrorist bikers are not an issue in Australia. I've seen both "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior", so I know what I'm talking about.
"Goodwill funds?" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"Goodwill funds?" (Score:5, Funny)
Mayor Menino: This isn't even a check, it's a bill!
Ignignokt: No it is a check, tell him Err.
Err: It's a bill.
Ignignokt: It's a...! Why the hell are we trying to cash a bill!?
two guys still face charges (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:two guys still face charges (Score:5, Interesting)
The interview with them was priceless, all the reporters got them and were dying for some great sound bytes for their story. All they got was the two goofballs talking about hair styles throughout history. Truly classic stuff.
Re:two guys still face charges (Score:5, Funny)
You know (Score:4, Funny)
You obviousally are a young kid that knows nothing.
facts.
1 - government officials are retarted with IQ's below 100.
2 - Judges are retarted with IQ's below 100.
3 - Panic sells and the above people like to panic.
4 - The above love to punish someone for no real good reason.
5 - go to step 1.
This is in a nutshell government, police and Judicial America. Some of you younger kids try to think otherwise but us that have lived to 40 know better.
Most of your managers, leaders, judges, police are complete and utter idiots. This is a fact of today's society. it rewards the feeble minded that can talk others into giving them power.
the sooner you realize that the world is not run by the geniuses and smart people but by the idiots and morons, the sooner you understand how silly crap like this happens.
Line 1:obviousally -> obviously
Line 2: facts. -> Facts:
Line 3: retarted -> retarded; IQ's -> IQs
Line 4: retarted -> retarded; IQ's -> IQs
Line 8: This is -> This is, ; nutshell -> nutshell, ; police -> police, ; Judicial -> judicial; otherwise -> otherwise, ; us -> we
Line 9: police -> police, ; feeble minded -> feeble-minded ; talk -> convince
Line 10: the -> The , sooner you understand -> sooner you will understand.
Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Proofread your posts before insulting peoples' intelligence.
What comes in mind when making this ad? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What comes in mind when making this ad? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:What comes in mind when making this ad? (Score:5, Insightful)
The authorities mishandled the response. Not by treating it a potential bomb scare after the "suspicious devices" had been reported; that was appropriate. But by making the all to human mistake of attributing malice to the perpetrator. Naturally, they were miffed at all the disruption, but, as we're seeing right here on
If I were governor, my response would have been this:
"These devices are not bombs, they are advertising gimmicks. There is no danger. But the individuals who reported them as a suspicious device did the right thing, as the police who responded did. I'd like to stress two important things. First, anybody in the future who sees a suspicious device should treat it as dangerous and report it to the police. They should NOT assume it is safe because the devices in this case were safe. It is important to remain vigilant, even though it is inevitable most terrorist scares will be false alarms. Second: nobody should place devices such as this in public places where they can cause a nuisance like this. Unfortunately, we cannot train every citizen in recognizing bombs or in terrorist tactics. So if you are use your common sense.
We have no reason to believe that the people who placed these devices had any malice. It's an understandable mistake. Although the costs of the response were considerable, some false alarms in the fight against terrorism are unavoidable. We will discuss this matter with the people who did this, and naturally we will welcome any help they are willing to offer with defraying the costs, but we should not lose sight of an important lesson this situation can teach us. We should neither panic, nor relax our guard in the struggle against terror. If we learn that, then this may have been the best money we've spent yet on terrorism prevention.
Municipalities should develop ordinances and permitting programs for such advertising programs. Advertisers should use their common sense. In the future there will be no leniency for anybody who tries a stunt like this, in full knowledge of the response it will create."
That's it. It think everybody in this situation was behaving reasonably, based on the information they had at their disposal, up to the point where the authorities decided to call it a "hoax". This is a lesson I'm always drilling my children in: don't jump to conclusions about the motivations of others. Don't say somebody is picking a fight when they bump into you. Don't say somebody is stealing when they pick something up that belongs to you. Don't think somebody is trying to hurt your feelings when they happen to say something that bothers you. It feels right and good at the time, but in the end you create a bigger problem for yourself than the one you imagined.
Re:What comes in mind when making this ad? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously. If I'm walking down the street and drop a PCI card in Boston, will I be arrested for inciting fear of terrorism?
The government of Boston and Mass should be absolutely embarrassed. They looked like absolute fools. I hate these guys are still in jail - but they'll be out soon enough and you can tell they have the right attitude - their press conference was priceless.
Remember that stupid color warning from DHS? The one that would bounce from yellow to orange every time Bush needed attention for himself? It's still on Orange. It'll be on Orange when I'm dead and gone. How pointless. I'm surprised they didn't bump it to Red just to strip us of our rights for a day just for fun because some kids stuck light brites to walls.
Of course I expect that little flashing circuit boards of LEDs will be showing up for months in all sorts of places. They'll just have to make sure they attach the 'THIS IS NOT A BOMB (tm)' sticker to it if they put any up in Boston.
Re:What comes in mind when making this ad? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now rationally no one would put a bomb, even a bomb the size of a D cell, on something with bright flashing lights in the shape of late-night cartoon characters because it would be totally obvious to even a mindless self-serving attention-hungry bureaucrat who can't take a joke and is afraid he/she (he) might end up looking like even more of a total chump if he admitted he/she (he) was taken for a chump...gasp...that making a bomb look this way would only attract undue attention; bored boarding school youths would steal them; bums would urinate on them; etc...
BUT say the terrorists: "since this is the last way anyone would ever expect us to plant a bomb, that makes it the perfect way to crush the unsuspecting infidel's vital infrastructure! Especially since our fiendish masterminds have just invented the most terrible explosive ever known to human kind, called ultramegatronium, that can level an entire bridge or airport with a single charge exactly the size and shape of D cell. Naturally we'd have to use ultramegatronium since a D cell full of any other explosive would be utterly pointless to use to try to use against a bridge or other permanent structure."
Now in the olden days they would have tried to conceal the bomb in a piece of trash, or encased in a bridge/building colored box, or hidden in a bag of groceries, or carried in a backpack, or driven in a car, or sewed up in the belly of an unusually large possum, or disguised to look like a rock, or a placed inside a bland piece of steel tubing, or wrapped up in a garbage bag, or carried by a bum they paid $5 for the job (with a $2 bonus for not urinating on it), or painted to look like a brick, or....you know, like that. BUT BUT BUT, these days we expect that all our bridges and buildings are going to get blown up in that manner, so random rocks and pieces of trash are immediately and necessarily suspect, and always disposed of in short order by the bomb squad. So you can't hide a bomb anymore. Instead, the bomb has to have bright flashing lights so people will ignore it.
Ha, but now we're on to 'em! So that scheme won't work anymore. Of course, they know that we're on to them so they have to go back to camouflage, except we know that they know that we know, so they're going to use bright flashing lights after all, except they also know that we know that they know that we know...
Anyway, the point is everything is probably a bomb made from ultramegatronium and you can never be too scared, and this proves the officials in charge of the hysteria aren't complete doofuses after all.
Re:What comes in mind when making this ad? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you call up the police and report that you think there's a bomb (as someone did) then they will bring in the bomb squad and they will treat it very seriously. Even if the object in question looks like (and is) a lite brite. This has been true at least the 1990s, and has probably been true as long as 'bomb squads' have existed.
The astonishing thing about this case is not that the authorities treated a lighted sign like it was a bomb. That's exactly what their job is. If you report something is a bomb, they treat it that way, whether it looks like a car, a cardboard box, a stuffed animal... or a cute LED sign giving you the finger.
No, the astonishing thing is that, even after the cops blew the thing apart with water (revealing a total lack of explosive components), they continued to tell the media that it was a suspicious device and that there were more suspicious devices located in key areas of the city. That's where someone really screwed up big time.
Re:What comes in mind when making this ad? (Score:5, Funny)
"We already checked it out, and it's a dud."
WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)
A real bomb is never designed to make itself presentable/noticable. Only a dickhead terrorist would invite attention to a bomb. Am I the only one who see the logic in this?
(NB. I hail from Australia and as such am not used to paranoia, yet).
Re:WTF? (Score:5, Insightful)
Someone who gets all of his knowledge about bombs from Hollywood movies.
Only a dickhead terrorist would invite attention to a bomb.
Or Hollywood movie villain terrorists.
24 (Score:5, Insightful)
It's part of what I call the "24" effect (after the Fox Network program 24).
More and more you see people's attitudes toward terrorism and law enforcement being molded by what they see on 24.
On 24, bombs all have blinking lights that count down.
On 24, Jack Bauer -must- torture the terrorist suspect -now- to stop the terrorist attack that is about to happen. No time for legal procedures, they must be stopped now!
People are starting to really believe that shit...
Re:24 (Score:5, Insightful)
No one can resist torture; except Jack. I found it pretty hilarious that in the hiatus, Jack was being held in a Chinese prison and tortured every day for a year... yet never broke or spoke a word. Yet time after time he breaks suspects in minutes with one or two applications of electric shock, a bullet in the thigh...
Re:24 (Score:4, Funny)
Re:24 (Score:5, Insightful)
Having spent a bit of time working for Uncle Sam, I can actually see how there would be a certain limited market for a realistic docu-drama. Mostly for people who enjoy watching things that piss them off. The problem is, it's all well-intentioned. The procurement process is the way it is (for most purchases & contracts )because they want to avoid the appearance of corruption. The human resources policies are the way they are because they want to avoid the appearance of institutional racism, sexism, etc. The health insurance... well, every health insurance policy in the US is fucked up, so you can't be surprised that the federal government (and even the military) has a pretty screwed-up system.
I am a bit put off by one thing, though - the perception that people who work for the government, at most levels, are too incompotent to work in the 'real world'. I took the job that I did because around 9/11, I felt the need to 'do for my country', blah blah blah. And I think there's a lot of people (from civil service, federal law enforcement, the military, and so on) who feel/felt the same. Course, a few years of the actuality, and working with people who really do think that a lite-bright looks like a bomb... well, either you start turning into one of them, or you get disgusted and look for other employment.
Re:WTF? (Score:5, Interesting)
Not quite the same thing. But a tactic used by the IRA was to put a big bomb and a little one near to each other. The little bomb being the one which went off first to "attract attention".
Boston's full of fucking morons. (Score:5, Insightful)
Mayor Menino cant take a joke. This is well established, just ask Opie and Anthony on XM sat radio and cbs radio... Who both lost their jobs as a result of saying that the mayor had died on the air during an April fools show. He wanted them fired, arrested, and their stations broadcasting license revoked.
He's doing the same again. As we all know, he has gone as far as to call the Ignignot and Err "Light Bright" displays as "Hoax bombs". A hoax bomb is not a random item left on various buildings. People often leave things around such as backpacks by accident. Are these hoax bombs?
A hoax bomb is something that looks like a bomb. Perhaps toilet paper rolls painted red with a calculator crudely wired to them. That is a hoax bomb.
These were fucking "Light Brights" with artwork on them. No anonymous phone calls to the police saying "look out, we're the mooninites and we're gonna blow the fuck out of your city... we're everywhere!" That would be a hoax bomb situation.
These are billboards.... posters... fucking light brights.
2million isnt a bad deal, considering the histerical free press they received. 70's hair cuts... are so fucking bad ass.
I'm glad they did this. It makes the Mayor of Boston look like a fucking moron. It makes the press look like fucking morons. It makes Adult Swim look funny and politically wise. This country needs a little fucking with. Adult Swim is evidence of it, that many people not only want to create counter culture experiences, but also seek them out because of the current ass twisted state of our society. We need a good fucking with, for our own good.
They weren't hoax bombs... they were silly light brights... and i want one
Watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force on Adult Swim. It's funny and full of random nonsense. These guys are my heros. Not only was it a great idea, but when it became a big stinking "hoax bomb" situation in dumb fuck Boston... It became a good opportunity to make fun of the press and that stupid fucking Mayor Menino.
Bravo... "and i'm doing this as hard as i can"
Re:Boston's full of fucking morons. (Score:5, Funny)
Im still just... (Score:5, Insightful)
I saw one of these "devices" (or one almost exactly like it) almost a year ago to the day on vacation in Seattle. Ya know what I did? I smiled. I smiled because it was a clever way to advertise (and because I knew what it was from). Nevertheless, when I looked at it I still would have realized it wasn't a bomb. It was flipping me off, not ticking.
If we painted all stupid people orange. Then we would know to just stay away from those ones.
Re:Im still just... (Score:5, Insightful)
emboldending (Score:4, Insightful)
An actual bomb scare in Boston = No Charges! (Score:5, Interesting)
Plant a fake bomb (made to look like a bomb) == No Charges
"In the hospital incident, investigators believe a former hospital employee planted the phony bomb in an office at 185 Harrison Ave. He has been identified but has not been charged, the sources said."
http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.b
Same city, same cops, same time period... what gives???
Re:An actual bomb scare in Boston = No Charges! (Score:5, Insightful)
Why did they even agree to pay 2 million? (Score:5, Insightful)
a) Thomas Menino is a moron
b) Ed Markey is a moron
c) Martha Coakley is a moron
d) Michael Flaherty is a moron
e) All of the above
What else did we learn? When is a bomb not a bomb? When the IED has LEDs on it. Now if I'm a terrorist, the best way to bomb any city in the U.S. would be to stick one of the ATHF banners in front of my actual bomb.
This 2 million isn't a fine - its a little bit of money so that Turner can accept responsibility and these public officials can save face instead of being decried for being thundering morons.
Feel kinda bad for people living in Boston (Score:4, Insightful)
I know, in a post 9/11 world we cannot afford to depend on common sense and should rely on crippling fear and paranoia to get us through the day, but really. Even after learning their embarrassing mistake, the officials STILL continue to treat this like an episode of 24 and act like a terror threat had taken place. Heck, your news papers are playing along [boston.com] with the mass idiocy.
You would think after all the facts came out, the city would want this quietly brushed aside but it seems to be reveling in its paranoia and ignorance.
Finkployd
Re:well... (Score:5, Funny)
Seems to me they'll need an immeasurable amount of publicity for the movie, since it doesn't seem like one single person in Boston was able to recognize an ATHF character.
Re:Slashdot is a funny place (Score:5, Insightful)
The fact is, THERE AREN'T MANY TERRORISTS. Terrorist attacks ARE NOT AND HAVE NEVER BEEN COMMON IN THE US. 9/11 happened because you cannot stop 9/11. Determined and resourceful people are trying to attack us, and, sooner or later, they will succeed. Terrorists could swallow explosives to get past security. They could use heat-seaking missles to hit jets. They could short a notebook battery and start a fire in the lavatory after stealing the fire extinguishers. They could open a cabin hatch in midflight.
We cannot stop terrorism. That's not to say that we shouldn't try to make it is difficult as possible for the terrorists. But we shouldn't become paranoid or live in fear trying to cover every last possibility. That's impossible. It would look like any other IED - some kind of timing or remote detonation device along with explosives. It doesn't really matter what it looks like, though, because it would be HIDDEN. You don't put explosives in plain sight - there's too much of a chance of them being discovered. You hide them in a vehicle, a mailbox, a trash can, or any of the millions of other out-of-sight places in a city. The point is that you don't put it in a public place at all. IT MAKES NO SENSE for terrorists to call attention to their devices with bright flashing lights. Whether or not individuals belieive that they are bombs, having your devices so plainly visible makes them infinitely easier to find and diffuse than if they were hidden.
Think of this from the police perspective: if you knew that bombs had been planted in your city, would you want them to be:
A - Brightly lit and placed in conspicuous locations
B - Nondescript devices (e.g. a cardboard box) hidden in trashcans or mailboxes
Which is easier to detect? Which is easier to find?
Re:Slashdot is a funny place (Score:5, Insightful)
That's how you handle a credible threat of regularly placed terrorist bombs. Without terror.
Re:Slashdot is a funny place (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Slashdot is a funny place (Score:5, Insightful)
Well duh. Only proper official bombs look like bombs. Well even that isn't true because that would suggest every explosive device has the same form/look. They don't. Bombs that are just designed to go boom just look like whatever shape suits their purpose best.
A bomb would contain some form of explosive. These make shift readerboard signs didn't have anything on them that looked like they had anything to do with bombs as they had NO INCENDIARIES.
Bombs are designed to go boom, but their shape affects how they go boom. For example, a firecracker is chaped in such a way that it makes a loud noise. A bottle rocket is shaped so that it gets propelled. Other rockets contain a payload of balls of power. If you take the contents of a firecracker and ignite it, you get a flash not a boom sound.
These things looked like reader boards. Near as I can see, they had no timmer circuits on them, no connection to a primer or payload. I couldn't even spy a photoelectric cell, would would have been handy to keep them lit at night only. I.E. not bomb like in the slightest.
Plus the fact that explosives tend to have weight beyond plastic, a few batteries, and a slew of LEDs.
Only a moron would think that this was a bomb.
Re:Slashdot is a funny place (Score:4, Insightful)
Reading the above reminds me of folks who are quick to criticise a movie to damnation based on something they heard or what they read in the paper.
Have you even see the bloody things? They look like something a 5 year old would enjoy playing with. That opinion is my own, of course, but I'm guessing it's shared at least in part by the constabulatory in the other 9 cities where these bomb lookalikes were placed. I wonder whether the bomb squad folks have any skills, or whether they get any training, or do they get hired simply for their ability to get excited by anything with flashing lights?
If there's any head shaking to be done, it should be at the over-reaction on the part of Boston's finest. They've made themselves look like fools, and turned the idea of protecting the Homeland into something more of a farce than it typically is. And overlong ramblings such as yours about the dangers of bombs only adds to the collective absurdity.
The two guys are complete idiots, of course, but that's another subject. If there's anything interesting or noteworthy about the mess it's the story of how an entertainment company is held liable for the unfortunate outcome an advertising campaign gone bad, and how that blame gets spread around.