Good lord, were real Sarah Marshall's really that offended? Talk about taking yourself too seriously.

Those stupid light up alien things were the dumbest idea ever.

I can't believe how many people actually sided with the people that put them up.

What, no OK Cola?

The Sarah Marshall ads deserve to be on the list not because they offended overly sensitive people named Sarah Marshall, but because they were extremely annoying (as any "hand-written" viral ad is).

Is that Lite Brite guy giving us the finger?

Or is it a secret terrorist signal...?

What about Sony's Alliwantforxmasisapsp?

Poor Zune, never catches a break.

When it comes to PC components, there's a lot of fan fakery out there in gaming and computer forums. And there's even more pay-for-play type of advertising on hardware review sites.

@AD8BC: I side with them. The authorities were overreacting idiots.

How did Sony's repeated Astroturfing not make this list? Especially since they always seem to be so shocked when they get caught.

For the record, Judd Apatow produced - but did not direct - Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

@AD8BC: The lite brite things are certainly not the dumbest thing ever. The cops that thought they were bombs are the dumbest things ever.

What happened to the guerilla marketing for the Sony PSP where they sprayed grafitti all over various cities?

@AD8BC: It's a freaking Lite-Brite!

what about that post a few weeks back where that guy almost got killed because he was handing out tomatoes wrapped in money.

The mooninites hate our freedom!

@AD8BC: And people like you are exactly what is wrong with this country.

@johnva:

I don't necessarily side with them, but agreed on the overreacting idiots thing. I can see momentary alarm, maybe, but a cursory inspection would reveal that they were just LEDs. However, I hate guerilla marketing, so I have to hate it even when it's for something I like.

I'd cast a vote for this being a pretty bad one. Every couple of weeks or so, someone sees a picture of this, becomes enraged and righteous over it, blogs about how this billboard proves that all womens are moneygrubbing whores, and submits it to digg and reddit.

Nobody has any idea that it's not real, and nobody has ever heard of the show it was advertising. (I think it's probably been cancelled by now, anyway.)

Yep, Boston really did overreact to those lite-brites.

@Balisong: way to generalize there, sport.

@spanky: Oh, I agree. I hate guerrilla marketing in general, too. I just hated the totally overblown response in that particular case more. As far as I know, the authorities in Boston STILL have not admitted they overreacted. Yes, the guys running the ATHF campaign were idiots. But the cops and Boston politicians were bigger idiots.

Goldenpalace.com stunt doesn't really belong, since the millions of dollars of prime media placement they got from all the news coverage more than paid for the fine.

I think it's tacky as shit, but they're going after an audience that doesn't care about tackiness. Their entire temporary tattoo tactic (with boxers and sponsored streakers) are an unqualified success.

And much sympathy and support for those guys who were only doing a job they were hired to do and had to suffer and apologize for it because of terrorist paranoia. But at least AD8BC is happy our freedoms be protected.

Um, this all worked, I'd like to point out. Pictures are posted, we're all talking about it, we are familiar with the company names.

I thought the ATHF thing was hilarious.

@B1663R: Yeah, I'd have put that one up there instead of the Zune one which failed mostly because people hate the product. The only thing that made the Zune advertising guerilla was that they didn't have permission to put the posters there. Otherwise it's just a poster that's clearly advertising the product which is normally a good idea.

@Ryan H: @AlteredBeast: Honestly, Zune has had some serious missteps, but I don't think any of them can top alliwantforxmasisapsp.com.

Um, this all worked, I'd like to point out. Pictures are posted, we're all talking about it, we are familiar with the company names.

@meeroom: But I'm not visiting Goldenpalace.com, buying a Zune, or buying a Nvidia product. I was an ATHF fan before the stunt for the movie and that still didn't get me to go see it in theaters.

Doesn't advertising have to convince you to buy their product or service to be considered successful?

1-31-07 Never Forget

@Rectilinear Propagation: Just because you didn't buy the product doesn't mean other people didn't...

Yeah,I think the whole ATHF "bomb scare" was incredibly stupid.It's FREAKING LITE BRITES!! How threatening is an animated Mooninite?(That's the little dude in the picture)

Great PR for the Boston PD....

@Rectilinear Propagation: It doesn't have to convince you, it just has to convince enough of the people they're targeting.

I feel that this article contains too in-depth a summary of the original article. The entire list is given and detailed. Images for each list item from the source article are also used here. Having read the Consumerist post, there is little reason to visit WebUrbanist. While I understand that the Consumerist is interested in increasing its own web traffic, it should not do so at the expense of other sites, from which it is co-opting content.

The Lite Brites were clearly illegal under Massachusetts laws that prohibit hoax devices, infernal machines, or anything anyone might be afraid of or confused by for some reason.

So, as an example, it would be illegal to construct a large obelisk in Boston and play a recording of Thus Spake Zarathustra; and if there are any moths in Massachusetts, it would be illegal to have light bulbs or other sources of artificial illumination.

It makes perfect sense if you think about it, really.

@AD8BC: stupid campaign maybe, but how about the guys that confused a lite-bright for a bomb?

"Sarge, we've got some easy-bake ovens spotted on the overpass...better call in the bomb squad and get homeland security on the case too."

@spanky

"Hoax device?"
Remind me not to take my whoopee cushion next time I go to Massachusetts. I might be charged with "Flatulence Terrorism"

God, the Boston bomb scare of 2007. That was so, incredibly sad.

[laughingsquid.com]

He's doing it as hard as he can.

spanky wrote: "So, as an example, it would be illegal to construct a large obelisk in Boston and play a recording of Thus Spake Zarathustra; and if there are any moths in Massachusetts, it would be illegal to have light bulbs or other sources of artificial illumination."

I know what I'm doing this weekend!!!

BTW, can #3 really be considered guerrilla, when the movie studio paid for placement in a traditional medium?

If anything, the response from the real life Sarah Marshalls qualify as an (unintended) guerrilla ad campaign for the movie, and successful one at that.

@Balisong: @Hamm Beerger: It is also techinically considered litter, also posting of a sign without a permit, plus they coul dbe considered obscene to many people (not you and me, of course, but still). It's just like those stupid advertising signs posted on telephone poles "Septic Tank Cleaning call 252-POOP" or "We'll buy your house" or stuff like that.

At least the silly Sarah Marshall billboards were legal (unless they were an illegal billboard in Los Angeles [consumerist.com])

Commenter jamesdenver on that article is a member of an organization called causs [causs.org] , I'd be interested in their opinion of these signs as well.. although I'm not too twrribly worried about most people's complaints about littering the urban landscape, I do remove lots of these illegal signs when I can and I kind of like what this organization does.

@uberbucket

LOL

"He said no,Urr. With his foot."

@spanky: Well according to my reading of that law it doesn't sound like the Lite-brites qualify as "hoax devices". Because a) their creators had no intent to cause fear or panic, and b) no reasonable person would believe they were a bomb, either.

What about the Zune Guy? Talk about a complete tool, this fan probably could qualify as a guerilla marketer...

[www.engadget.com]

"I thought they could fly!"

/best make-believe marketing effort

is every law enforcement official in boston totally out of touch? do none of them have teenage kids, or hell, KNOW ANYONE, ANYONE AT ALL, who is in their teens or twenties and watch adult swim? someone who would've said, 'hey, those are characters from a TV SHOW, YOU PARANOID D-BAGS?!' i mean, i could fault the advertisers for not informing the boston PD...but it's probably because they figured boston PD wouldn't be so ridiculously ill-informed as to consider a few lite brite mooninites A POSSIBLE BOMB/TERRORIST ATTACK. i mean, really. it's pathetic.

@lesspopmorefizz: There's also the possibility (particularly in the case of the politicians involved) that they KNEW it wasn't a terrorist threat but chose to exploit fears of terrorism for political gain.

@johnva

Funny you mention that because I thought the same thing when I first heard about it.That sickens me.

I think the IBM "Peace Love Linux" spray paint ads from the early 2000's deserves a mention, they had to pay for clean up in like a dozen cities.

The fact that they were hanging around Boston for weeks before the reaction and many many other major cities, it is pretty sad that Boston took such a heavy handed approach.