The Yes Men: Comprehensive Research Dossier
From: The Fires of History
Contents 33 sections
Research Compilation for “The Fires of History”
The Principals
- Andy Bichlbaum (real name Jacques Servin, b. 1963, Tucson, Arizona) – Before The Yes Men, he secretly inserted code in SimCopter (1996) causing groups of men in swimsuits to appear kissing, leading to his dismissal from Maxis Inc. (Baltimore Sun)
- Mike Bonanno (real name Igor Vamos, b. 1968, Albany, NY) – BA from Reed College, MFA from UC San Diego. Associate professor of media arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). Founded RTMark, an anti-consumerist collective (Wikipedia); created the Barbie Liberation Organization (swapped voice boxes so Barbie said “Vengeance is mine!” and G.I. Joe said “Let’s go shopping!”). (Wikipedia)
The Yes Men formally originated ~1996, with their key moment being a parody WTO website during the 1999 Seattle conference.
1. The Bhopal/Dow Chemical BBC Hoax (December 3, 2004)
Background
December 3, 1984: gas leak at Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India killed ~3,800 immediately; 500,000+ exposed. (Britannica) Dow Chemical acquired Union Carbide in 2001 and refused liability. (Wikipedia)
The Setup
The Yes Men created DowEthics.com, mimicking Dow’s real website. It sat live for two years, collecting genuine inquiries. In November 2004, BBC World Television contacted DowEthics.com for an interview about the 20th anniversary of Bhopal. They accepted.
The Broadcast
On BBC World News, Andy Bichlbaum appeared as “Jude Finisterra” (meaning “the end of the world”) and announced: (Democracy Now!)
- Dow was accepting full responsibility for Bhopal
- Dow would liquidate Union Carbide entirely
- $12 billion would fund victim compensation, medical care, and environmental cleanup
The Stock Market Impact
- Within 23 minutes, Dow’s share price fell 4.24% on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Wikipedia)
- Wiped approximately $2 billion off Dow’s market capitalization (Democracy Now!)
- Key insight: The market’s reaction quantified what it would cost Dow to do the right thing. Investors fled because Dow would help victims. The stock drop measured the market value of Dow’s refusal to take responsibility.
Aftermath
- After ~2 hours of worldwide coverage, Dow denied the statement
- The Yes Men then issued a second press release from DowEthics.com explicitly listing everything Dow was NOT going to do – forcing Dow to publicly confirm its refusal
- Over 600 articles in US press; Bhopal victims were pleased it raised awareness
- WikiLeaks later revealed Dow had hired Stratfor (private intelligence firm) to conduct surveillance on The Yes Men and Bhopal activists (Democracy Now!)
2. The WTO Operations
The gatt.org Website
Parody of the WTO’s official site created for the 1999 Seattle conference. Ranked highly in search engines; received genuine invitations to speak at international conferences. The actual WTO issued a press release: “WTO DG Moore deplores fake WTO websites” – drawing more attention.
The Salzburg Conference (October 2000)
“Dr. Andreas Bichlbauer” told a room of international lawyers that:
- Corporations should be allowed to buy votes directly from citizens
- Siestas should be outlawed as non-tariff trade barriers
Nobody objected. Polite applause.
Finland – “The Golden Phallus” (August 2001)
At “Textiles of the Future” conference, Tampere, Finland. Mid-speech, the presenter ripped off his suit to reveal a gold full-body leotard with a three-foot inflatable golden phallus – the “Employee Visualization Appendage.”
Stated features:
- Telescreen on the tip to monitor workers in real time
- Reception of data from microchips planted under workers’ skin
- Ability to administer electric shocks to underperforming workers
- Hands-free operation for “healthful leisure”
Audience response: Applause and no questions. One woman objected – not to shocking workers, but because the phallic design implied only men could be managers.
The Hamburger Recycling Proposal
Proposed to students that Third World populations receive filters to “recycle” hamburgers by processing human waste back into food. This was the only audience that rejected the proposal outright. The Yes Men noted: “students are smarter than previous crowds.”
3. Other Major Operations
The Fake New York Times (November 12, 2008)
Full 14-page replica, dated July 4, 2009. Headline: “IRAQ WAR ENDS.” Other headlines: abolition of corporate lobbying, maximum CEO wage, recall of all gasoline cars. 80,000-100,000 copies distributed across NYC, LA, SF, Chicago, Philadelphia, DC. (The Yes Men) Under $100,000 total cost. Thousands of volunteers from collaborating organizations.
HUD/Hurricane Katrina (2006)
A Yes Man appeared alongside Mayor Ray Nagin and Governor Kathleen Blanco as a fake “deputy assistant to the undersecretary” of HUD announcing: (Salon)
- Reversal of policy to demolish public housing
- Shell Oil would spend $7 billion repairing wetlands
HUD spokesperson Donna White called it “sick and twisted.”
A New Orleans contractor responded: “I’m not angry at them for pulling this joke, I’m angry that it is not for real.”
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Climate Reversal (October 2009)
Fake press conference at the National Press Club. “Hingo Sembra” announced the Chamber would abandon opposition to climate legislation. Reuters ran the story. The press conference ran several minutes before an actual Chamber spokesman barged in and disrupted it on live TV. (Grist)
The SurvivaBall / Halliburton (2006-2009)
Posed as Halliburton at an insurance conference, presenting an enormous inflatable ball-suit that would let corporate managers survive the climate disasters their companies were causing. (Democracy Now!) Bichlbaum jumped into the East River wearing one – arrested, spent 26 hours in jail. (The Indypendent)
Shell Oil “Arctic Ready” Campaign (June 2012)
Multi-layered hoax with Greenpeace:
- A fake Shell party at the Space Needle where a model oil rig sprayed brown liquid on guests (TriplePundit)
- “Guest of honor” was actually 84-year-old Occupy activist Dorli Rainey
- ArcticReady.com satire website allowing visitors to create mocking image macros
- Fake Shell press release threatening legal action
gwbush.com (2000)
Satirical website for the 2000 election. George W. Bush responded: “There ought to be limits to freedom.” (The Yes Men)
4. Methodology: “Identity Correction”
Core Method
Impersonating powerful entities and making public statements those entities should be making but refuse to. The subsequent denial forces them to publicly confirm their actual, less ethical position. The reveal generates more negative coverage than any standard protest.
Tactical Principles
- Exploit credibility systems: Fake websites rank in search engines; press conferences at the National Press Club carry inherent authority; a suit on BBC is assumed legitimate
- Force the denial: The real value is the target’s forced public denial, which generates its own news cycle
- Make the audience complicit: Conference attendees who applaud absurd proposals become part of the indictment
- Propose the obviously right thing: Announcing what the company should do; the denial exposes the ethical gap
Intellectual Lineage
- Situationist International: Detournement (hijacking corporate images against themselves), Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle
- Culture Jamming: Subverting mass media to expose underlying ideology
- Tactical Media: Using media systems against themselves
5. Legal Consequences
The General Pattern: Almost None
Three factors:
- Strong legal representation: Defended by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
- First Amendment protection: Largely protected as parody and political speech
- The Streisand Effect: Targets discover lawsuits only generate more negative publicity
U.S. Chamber of Commerce v. Yes Men (2009-2013)
Chamber filed for trademark infringement, false advertising, cyberpiracy. The Chamber dropped the lawsuit in June 2013. The Yes Men held a mock press conference “mourning” the withdrawal. (Electronic Frontier Foundation)
Only Arrest
Bichlbaum spent 26 hours in NYC jail for the SurvivaBall East River stunt (no permit + unpaid bicycle ticket).
No Criminal Prosecution for Major Hoaxes
Despite: $2 billion stock market fluctuation, fake New York Times distribution, impersonating government officials, impersonating WTO officials at international conferences – never criminally prosecuted.
Dow Chemical’s response: hired Stratfor for surveillance rather than pursue legal action.
6. Films and Documentation
| Film | Year | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| The Yes Men | 2003 | Early WTO impersonations, gatt.org, Salzburg, Finland |
| The Yes Men Fix the World | 2009 | Dow/Bhopal, HUD/Katrina (Sundance premiere) (IMDb) |
| The Yes Men Are Revolting | 2014 | Chamber of Commerce, Shell Arctic Ready, SurvivaBall |
Book: The Yes Men: The True Story of the End of the World Trade Organization (2004, Disinformation Company)
Yes Labs: Workshop/incubator training other activists in “identity correction” methods.
Key Quotes for the Book
- Bush on gwbush.com: “There ought to be limits to freedom.”
- HUD spokesperson on Katrina hoax: “Sick and twisted.”
- New Orleans contractor: “I’m not angry at them for pulling this joke, I’m angry that it is not for real.”
- “Jude Finisterra”: The name means “the end of the world” – hidden in plain sight.
- The golden phallus objection: Not that it proposed shocking workers, but that only men could be managers.
- The $2 billion stock drop: Quantified the market value of Dow’s refusal to help.
- Students vs. lawyers: Students rejected hamburger recycling; lawyers accepted vote-auctioning.
Connection to the Book’s Thesis
The Yes Men represent the purest modern example of high-effort, high-stakes trolling for social good:
- Their method is Socratic: they ask “what would the right thing look like?” and then perform it
- The “identity correction” concept is a direct descendant of Swift’s Modest Proposal – proposing something that sounds reasonable to expose the actual unreasonable reality
- The conference audiences’ non-reactions (applause for the golden phallus, acceptance of vote-buying) are the modern equivalent of the Athenian assembly nodding along as Socrates leads them to self-contradiction
- The stock market’s $2 billion punishment for doing the right thing is one of the most elegant demonstrations of structural injustice in activist history
Chapter Fit: Ch. 15 (Trolling as Resistance) primary; Ch. 10 (Comedy as Trolling) for performance aspects; departure space for “heist movie” treatment.
Source URLs
Prefer RSS? Subscribe here.