Rule #25 Your Marketing Should Not Be Able to be Confused as a Terrorist Threat

By now, everyone's probably heard about the Marketing Stunt That Shut Down Boston where Turner Broadcasting tried to do something edgy and viral and ended up causing havoc and exposing themselves to some pretty hefty sanctions for utter stupidity.

I understand the desire to get a crazy marketing campaign to generate interest. I understand that there is massive competition for the short attention span of today's consumer. But seeding a city with circuit boards in out of the way places that have blinking lights, in this day and age of terrorist threats and high security, is beyond stupid, its criminal.

I would not be surprised in the least if someone ends up doing a little jail time over this fiasco (oooh, how I love that word!).

Rule #25 is Don't Create a Viral Marketing Campaign That Can Be Easily Mistaken for a Terrorist Threat.