Jim Samples has resigned as head of Time Warner Inc.'s (NYSE:TWX) Cartoon Network, following the botched Adult Swim marketing effort that caused a huge bomb scare in Boston.

In a statement, Samples, an affable guy whom I interviewed a few years ago for a feature about Adult Swim for Bloomberg Markets magazine, took blame for the incident. I hope this doesn't lead to further management shakeups.

Adult Swim is small but very weird corner of the Time Warner media empire. One time, the people at Adult Swim hoisted a pirate flag over their building. Samples, whose office was nearby, had to tell them to take it down. These aren't typical employees and Time Warner is smart enough to leave them be for the most part, because the unit's shows are phenomenally popular among young people.

Time Warner's brass has shown enough contrition for the misunderstanding over the marketing campaign for the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" movie. The campaign was a stupid idea, particularly in the age of heightened security awareness because of worries about terrorism. This certainly wasn't done maliciously.

None of this publicity will hurt the film or Adult Swim's ratings. If anything, it will make the weird cartoons seem even more anti-establishment in the eyes of their target audience.

The police in Boston probably should have consulted with a college student, or any male between the ages of 18 to 24 before freaking out over a publicity stunt for the upcoming move featuring the Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Granted the marketing campaign wasn't well executed and was in questionable taste. Then again, so is the show that airs on Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network (Turner is a division of Time Warner Inc.(NYSE:TWX)).

The Aqua Teens are a fun-loving trio featuring talking fast food. There's the blowhard disposable cup Master Shake, the child-like wad of meat named Meatwad, and the leader Frylock , who is an order of French fries. At first, they were supposed to be detectives but they bagged that and now basically hang out all day in their run-down house. They regularly torment Carl, their gross, hairy next-door neighbor. Aliens also drop by from time to time, including the Moonites, obnoxious aliens who live on the moon and like to party. These were the characters who were featured in the ill-advised marketing campaign.

Cartoon Network is hugely popular for Turner, thanks to the Aqua Teens and the other shows featured on the late-night "Adult Swim" lineup. In particular, they are popular with the elusive young male demographic that is hard for advertisers to target. Most episodes of the Aqua Teens attract big-named advertisers.

Adult Swim has revived Family Guy and Futurama after Fox gave up on the programs, which is a remarkable. The channel obviously feels bad about the trouble it caused. There's an apology posted on the Web site. I'm sure Time Warner will make amends to Boston and other cities caught up in the hysteria. Then, the controversy will blow over and the movie will come out and will be a big hit.