I think your article hit the nail on the head--this was the only city that panicked like Chicken Little. Instead of looking to lay blame on someone else, Boston authorities should be ashamed of their cowardice and ignorance. What will will they mistake as a bomb next? The jukebox at the local pub? I'm all for safety, but where has common sense went? For an "educated and cultured" populace, they just set themselves back about 500 years and will be burning scientists as witches next.

When I saw the picture, I chuckled. To me that's nothing more than a unique advertising campaign. An LED sculpture looks nothing like a bomb in my opinion, and the artist who was hired to put it there is the last person who should be blamed.

As for lightboard ideas, how about one that simply says NOT A BOMB. Nah, that wouldn't even work. PopSci would be in court right beside Berdovsky.

I'd say their choice to mistake these things for a bomb reflects poorly on their training. This is obviously not a bomb. Since when have terrorists made their devices with bright lights in the form of cartoon characters giving the finger?

The mayor is making a big stink about how it's the responsibility of those who planted these that all sorts of resources were diverted and roads/rails were closed. It's not the artist's fault if someone choses to respond in an absurd fasion. If they don't teach how to appropriately scale a reaction in training, they really should.

Like the author said, if this could be a bomb, what next!?!?

i agree with MultiSlacking, i mean this is a town that burned people on suspicions, hearsay and rumors of witches.

It was stupid and deserving of some kind of punishment.

The thinking expressed here is typically GenX and that of a selfish six year old. HOw do any of you KNOW what a bomb looks like? When was the last time you saw one? I can guarantee you that no one riding the Tube in London last summer thinks this is funny. Besides the offensive "art", and what by the way gives you the right to put your offensive "art" in my life, this is unbelievably stupid. We live in a world where bombs go off every day, and it will happen here; islamifascists test us every day. And they are not the only ones. I can only imagine what the folks in Oklahoma City think of Interference Marketing. If you think this is all so funny, spend a couple of days on Jaffa Street in Israel. I suspect that Ted Turner will sue the pants of the geniuses now running Turner Networks, and I hope we send a few good Marines after the idiot who runs IM. Society hasn't the time for these few children who think that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, regardless of whom they might affect. These jerks are right up there with every hacker and virus writer; and burning them at the stake is not such a bad idea.

My biggest fear is that this serves as a disincentive to future clever marketing methods.

There's also a lesson to be learned about herd behavior in situations like this... and why those with common sense don't speak out.

I think Groggo exemplifies the mentality of those who lose clarity of thought by becoming emotionally charged. Fear is the motivation through which irrational behavior can be justified.

Terrorism is a real threat, but to live in such fear is unbecoming of the American way.

I agree with Robin Cumberland ("It was stupid and deserving of some kind of punishment.") The reaction of the Boston authorities WAS stupid. For that many law enforcement officials to act like Barney Fife on methamphetamines deserves some kind of punishment. They need to be able to recognize a real threat when one arises, for the safety of Bostonians.

It seem appropriate that a criminally stupid cartoon would have a stupid and criminal advertising campain. Berdovsky did a dumb thing in his placement of his "art", especially in today's society that encourages everyone to be vigilant. And what he did was illegal. In my state, there are laws against putting signs and displays on bridges. It is a very legitimate safety concern. Remember, a lady was killed in a Big Dig tunnel when something that was thought to be permanently affixed came loose. I don't think art should threaten people's lives. If this had been in London, with their experience with IRA bombings and the latest terror bombings, people would want to string Berdovsky up, and they outlawed the death penalty. I also do not blame anyone in Boston for not hearing of this so called campaign; I have not heard of it until this story broke. My last comment is on the critisism of Boston officials. I think that any critisism of Boston's overreaction to be inappropriate. If this had been a terrorist plot and the city officials had underreacted, we would be screaming for their heads.