Adult Swim Stunt This Past Week

Adult Swim provides me with a great deal of my cartoon content during my down times. If I'm not watching Discovery's MythBusters or something on the History Channel, you'll find me watching cartoons.

The Adult Swim block's definitely presents a different mindset from some of my old standby favorites of the Bugs Bunny gang and SpongeBob. It's definitely geared towards the 20 to 35-year olds and not something I'd be able to comfortably watch with my mum

So knowing the niche crowd it appeals to, it was surprising that Turner Broadcasting would place electronic boards of the Mooninite flipping everyone off all throughout several cities at an attempt at guerilla advertising. While the Adult Swim side of me sees the humor in it, the adult side of me does not. From an advertising point of view, it does make sense... Sony pulled the same stunt by hiring graffiti artists throughout several cities to do artwork for the PSP release. They gained publicity from the stunt and it did not hurt their sales at all. Their intention was to garner the attention of kids in the urban areas... areas that already are filled with billboards vying for their attention.

So why is Turner's stunt different. It's post 9/11. Anything that has wires dangling from it that can be found in different locations around a city, placed at bridges or major intersections, is not going to gather good attention. So it's not surprising that Boston police and the mayor weren't pleased with it.

While I feel slightly sorry for the two artists who were arrested for depositing the materials around the city, they're old enough to think through the consequences of their action. They're probably the only ones who stand to lose, because for Adult Swim, this is great advertising! It's not going to hurt them and it may turn a few more people onto the channel to check out what the show's about.

Check out how sorry these two guys feel about their involvement in the stunt from a WBZ-4 Video.

So, while I don't fully approve of their little stunt, I'll still be watching my usual block of cartoons this weekend, on Adult Swim. Well, everything BUT Asee McGee *eeewwww*.

Ignignokt: You and your third dimension.
Frylock: What about it?
Ignignokt: Oh, nothing; it's cute. We have five.
Err: Th-thousand.
Ignignokt: Yes, five thousand.
Err: Don't question it!
Frylock: Oh yeah? Well I only see two.
Ignignokt: Well that sounds like a personal problem.