ABC News reports that the “guerilla marketing firm” behind yesterday’s terror scare in Boston told one of the artists who placed the devices to keep quiet, while the city was shut down.

Feb. 1, 2007 — One of the two men charged in connection with the advertising campaign that turned into a terror scare was told to keep quiet as the stunt sent the city of Boston into chaos, according to two fellow artists who provided ABC News with an e-mail from the man supporting their claim.

Two local artists, Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky, were arrested Wednesday night and charged with disorderly conduct and placing a hoax device for allegedly putting about 38 devices containing magnetic lights in the shape of a “mooninite” character from the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim show, “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” around the city and surrounding area.

But friends and fellow artists Toshi Hoo and Travis Vautour said it’s not Berdovsky and Stevens who should take the fall for this.

According to Hoo and Vautour, the New York-based guerilla marketing firm, Interference Inc., which was running the advertising campaign in Boston; New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Atlanta; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Austin, Texas; San Francisco; and Philadelphia, told Berdovsky to keep his involvement quiet as the event was playing out.

“We received an e-mail in the early afternoon from Peter that asked the community that he’s a part of to keep any information we had on the down low and that was instructed to him by whoever his boss was in this advertising campaign gone wrong,” Vautour said. “I don’t know if it was for security reasons or it was to buy them some time or to buy Peter some time.”

And of course, there’s another possibility—that this “guerilla marketing firm” deliberately let the incident continue, because it was generating the kind of publicity money can’t buy.

UPDATE at 2/1/07 12:03:22 pm:

If you have high blood pressure, you may want to double up on your meds before watching this video:

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UPDATE at 2/1/07 12:07:03 pm:

Supporters rally outside court for men charged with hoax. (Hat tip: loppyd.)

About a dozen artists and other supporters rallied outside Charlestown Municipal Court this morning in defense of the two men charged with placing battery-powered cartoon characters throughout the city that touched off fears of bombs and terrorism.

Most of the supporters held computer printouts fashioned in the same design as the guerrilla adverting campaign that sparked the panic. The signs included Wednesday’s date — 1-31-07 — and had the words “Never Forget” beneath one of the characters from the Cartoon Network television show.