Network boss quits, apologizes for stunt

The general manager of the Cartoon Network, under fire for approving a marketing campaign that sparked a bomb scare in the Boston area last week, abruptly resigned yesterday, surprising local officials.

Jim Samples, 44, sent an e-mail to colleagues announcing his resignation after six years of leading the network and 13 at Turner Broadcasting System, the network's parent company.

"I deeply regret the negative publicity and expense caused to our company as a result of this campaign," Samples wrote. "As General Manager of Cartoon Network, I feel compelled to step down, effective immediately, in recognition of the gravity of the situation that occurred under my watch."

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who had denounced the Cartoon Network's marketing campaign last week as "all about corporate greed," said he did not push for Samples's resignation, but was pleased to hear of it.

"Somebody had to pay," Menino said in an interview yesterday. "He's the one who made all the decisions, and he didn't do anything to react to the concerns. The resignation should really serve as a message that these sorts of marketing tactics should not and will not be tolerated."

Samples, through a spokesman, declined to elaborate on his e-mail.

Until yesterday, the two local men charged in the scare -- Peter Berdovsky, 27, an artist, and Sean Stevens, 28, a computer technician -- had been the figures most associated with the bomb scare. Their behavior, smirking at their arraignment and boasting about their hair at a press conference -- Berdovsky has dreadlocks -- seemed to inflame public anger over the scare.

A lawyer for Stevens said yesterday that he hoped that a high-ranking television executive stepping down after the scandal could shift the focus away from the young duo and help persuade prosecutors to drop the criminal charges against them.

"I've always thought the Cartoon Network and [its advertising firm] Interference should have been the ones accepting responsibility for this from the beginning," the lawyer, Michael L. Rich, said yesterday.

Even as Samples resigned, the network's parent company, Turner Broadcasting System, declined to clarify Samples' s specific role in the marketing campaign. Shirley Powell, a spokeswoman for Turner, declined to say whether Samples was aware of the plan to post lighted battery-powered boards in conspicuous public places.

Powell would say only that executives at the Cartoon Network had approved of hiring Interference Inc., a New York City marketing outfit known for audacious publicity stunts, to craft ads that would reach young men, the target market for the network's late-night show, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."

Late last month, Interference hired workers to install the boards featuring one of the cartoon's characters in 10 cities nationwide , including Boston. On Jan. 31, several in Boston were mistaken for bombs, prompting police to shut down parts of the city and call out the State Police bomb squad.

Menino said, "The embarrassment that this caused for the parent company, for Time Warner, [meant that] somebody had to make this resignation happen."

Samples had won praise for expanding Cartoon Network's online presence, but had failed to bring its television ratings in line with the expectations of some of his bosses at Turner.

Berdovsky's lawyer, Jeffrey J. Pyle, declined to comment. Emily LaGrassa, spokeswoman for Attorney General Martha Coakley, said yesterday that talks have failed to reach a settlement, but will continue.

Turner Broadcasting apologized for the campaign last week and announced it would pay $2 million in restitution to the MBTA and local governments. That agreement released the company from criminal and civil liability. But Samples' s e-mail suggested that fallout from the scare had continued to rock the Cartoon Network.

"It's my hope that my decision allows us to put this chapter behind us and get back to our mission of delivering unrivaled original animated entertainment for consumers of all ages," Samples wrote to his colleagues.

He added, "I will always cherish the experience of having worked with you."

Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone of Somerville praised the resignation and said he was not expecting a network chief to step down. He and Menino said they had not lobbied for Samples' s resignation.

"It's surprising," Curtatone said yesterday. "I'm satisfied that Turner and Cartoon Network understood the gravity of the actions that took place here in the Greater Boston area and Somerville and Cambridge."

Mark Lazarus, president of Turner Entertainment Group, said in an e-mail to his colleagues that he would take over for Samples while the network searches for a new general manager.

In an e - mail to colleagues yesterday, Lazarus praised Samples as a "valued friend and mentor" at the company.

Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.