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THE YES MEN

Who Are the Yes Men?
We’re just two guys, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno, who—thanks to a network of ultra-capable friends and allies—infiltrate conferences, produce fake newspapers, and do various other weirdness in order to expose the wrongdoings of miscellaneous, mostly corporate evildoers. Oh, and we record the whole thing to get it out to the world through social media, news channels, and our own movies.

We call this sort of thing “laughtivism” because, well, it’s funny. And it’s activist: the theory is, we’ll laugh bloodsuckers into oblivion and thus save the world. It doesn’t always work—the world still needs some saving—but, you know, the arc of history bends towards justice, even when it seems to be breaking.

On this site you’ll find stories from our past adventures, revealing some of the dirty details so that you can pull off your own. (And if you ever wonder “How did they do that?” just ask! We’ll be happy to add more details to satisfy demand.)

Laughtivism is fun, relatively easy, and is part of the tapestry of resistance – so if it appeals to you, why not do some of your own?

Our History
We’re two weirdos who decided it would be amazing fun to stick it to the man. We’ve never been able to hold down normal jobs, except when posing as representatives of Halliburton, Exxon, Shell, Dow, and the Federal Government, so we’ve made a career out of it: a tactic we call “Identity Correction.”

We’ve been pulling off these types of schemes for 20 years, and now we want to help more people take part in smart, fun activism against the forces of evil. Check out our movies, other videos, and past projects for hard evidence that this stuff can make a difference. Or, just take our word for it. Do you think we’d lie to you?

Taken from the Yes men website.

Projects
The Gazprom/Shell Polar Partnership

In 2012, Royal Dutch Shell failed to drill a single hole in the Arctic off the coast of Alaska thanks to a series of dangerous blunders and mismanagement that led to the government calling the company “screwed up.” This year, they trained their sights on the much less regulated waters off the coast of Russia, teaming up oil giant Gazprom, to open up the newly accessible Russian Arctic to drilling.

Greenpeace didn’t think enough people were paying attention to this, so they teamed up with the Yes Lab to create a spectacle in Amsterdam that would get people talking.

On August 21st, a barge filled with Russian and Dutch officials, a marching band, a child singer, and a giant cage containing what appeared to be a drugged up polar bear, wound its way through the canals of Amsterdam to the city’s zoo. Gazprom held a ceremony presenting the bear to the city as a gesture of goodwill, launching the Polar Partners initiative, including an interactive website.

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