New York Times Special Edition Video News Release – Nov. 12, 2008 from H Schweppes on Vimeo.

Loren Coleman at Cryptomundo has done something inbetween suggest and imply that the “Montauk Monster” is nothing more than a publicity stunt to sell Snapple’s “Venom” energy drink. He writes

The response has been generally good-humored and filled with crypto-intrigue regarding the fact Dr. Pepper/Snapple’s Venom Energy Drink would offer a bounty for the live capture of the Montauk Monster.

He posts a comment on a previous post that goes further

“And for Venom to so quickly jump in with their ad campaign, utilizing loren of all people, and playing this up so, smacks of hype, Madison Avenue, and frankly muddies the waters where genuine cryptozoological interests can be raised.”

Oh, the Madison Avenue Marketing Monster intrigue…

The Los Angeles street artist known as Skullphone managed to get his iconic skull-holding-a-cellphone image to display on 10 prominent digital billboards throughout Los Angeles last week — leading some blogs to report that hed hacked into the signs. Alas, Clear Channel Outdoors, which owns the billboards, says no. "He paid to get it up," says spokeswoman Jennifer Gery. "It only ran for two days."
Clear Channel: Digital Billboards Rented, Not Hacked | Threat Level from Wired.com

The hack was a hoax.  booooo.

I was genuinely excited there could have been a vulnerability that would put such a powerful communications medium into the hands of smart and determined people. But it’s still pay to say in the land of free speech. +1 for the cynics.