Tuesday 22 February 2011

Latest Hijinks | The Yes Men

The Yes Men agree their way into the fortified compounds of commerce, ask questions, and then smuggle out the stories of their hijinks to provide a public glimpse at the behind-the-scenes world of business. In other words, the Yes Men are team players... but they play for the opposing team.

Chevron

Chevron's $50 million ad campaign gets flushed

October, 2010 |

Chevron's newest greenwashing attempt was completely derailed when the Yes Men teamed up with Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch to create a satirical version of their "We Agree" street-artist ad campaign. Thanks to a PR leak, activists were able to send out their fake press release hours before Chevron could send out their real announcement of the campaign, resulting in a comedy of errors between many media outlets and resulting in a truer-to-life poster and tv ad campaign.

Canada

Canada turns over a new leaf

December, 2009 |

During the U.N. sponsored climate negotiations in Copenhagen, Denmark, heavy CO2 emitter Canada surprised many, including its own negotiators, by acknowledging the historic climate debt that rich countries owe the developing world, which scientists predict will bear the most dramatic impacts of climate change.

Chamber

Chamber of Commerce goes green

October, 2009 |

The business community was stunned one Monday morning when the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce, long a stalwart enemy of sensible climate legislation, appeared to dramatically reverse it's position. During a well attended press conference at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, DC, Chamber representative "Hingo Sembra" announced some startling news.

Balls Across America

Balls Across America

September, 2009 |

All across the U.S., "Survivaballs" go on the offensive—not only as the symbol of the stupidest possible climate policy (i.e. roughly the one we've got) but as a tool for civil disobedience. Plunging from Capitol steps, taking the U.N. by storm, and waddle-assaulting bad U.S. Senators, the Survivaball is (briefly) a force to be reckoned with.

New York Post

New York Post tells the truth

September, 2009 |

On the eve of a major UN meeting on climate change in New York city, morning commuters were stunned by the appearance of a "special edition" New York Post blaring headlines that their city could face deadly heat waves, extreme flooding, and other lethal effects of global warming within the next few decades. The most alarming thing about it: the news came from an official City report, and unlike the Post's normal coverage, was thoroughly fact-checked.

New York Times

New York Times special edition

November, 2008 |

Early one morning over a thousand Yes Men and Yes Women blanketed New York City with over a million copies of a special "good news edition of the New York Times. Postdated to July 4th, 2009, the paper was a vision of the world as it could be if the force that elected Obama became pressure on him to be who we'd elected.

Vivoleum

Exxon's Climate-Victim Candles

June, 2007 |

Imposters posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC) representatives delivered an outrageous keynote speech to 300 oilmen at GO-EXPO, Canada's largest oil conference, held at Stampede Park in Calgary, Alberta, today.

Balkany

The Yes Men versus a really stupid French politician

April, 2007 |

In 2007, we set up a fake TV studio and convinced a powerful French politician he was on right-wing American talk show. Among other things, deputy Patrick Balkany said: "There are no poor people in France. There are people who choose to be homeless - but we feed them, we house them, we wash them...."

 

Wharton

WTO Proposes Slavery for Africa

November, 2006 |
At a Wharton Business School conference on business in Africa, World Trade Organization representative Hanniford Schmidt announced the creation of a WTO initiative for "full private stewardry of labor" for the parts of Africa that have been hardest hit by the 500 years of Africa's free trade with the West.
HUD

HUD Secretary Jackson Announces New Direction for Agency

August, 2006 |
The Yes Men get themselves invited to the Gulf Coast Reconstruction Conference as HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In the wake of Katrina, HUD has collaborated with large private developers in tearing down public housing, despite a dire need for it. In the Yes Men's version, HUD behaves quite differently.
via theyesmen.org

Part 2 of the mix

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