The Yes Men

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno make up the Yes Men a duo who exist somewhere between comedy, performance art and political/social commentary and participate in what they call actions. These actions are outrageous hoaxes that call attention to the absurdity of the behavior of corporations and governments. Their modus operandi is to find way to insert themselves into serious public rolls and then call attention to the issues that concern them.

The centerpiece of The Yes Men Save the World documentary is an action that they put in place to call attention to the behavior of Dow Chemical who in 1984 accidentally released a cloud of toxic gas in Bhopal, India which killed more than 20,000 people. As the twentieth anniversary of Bhopal tragedy approached the Yes Men launched a website, dowethics.com, which caught the attention of the BBC who contacted them, thinking they were representatives from Dow, and asked for a statement. What the BBC got was more than they could have hoped for, Andy posing as a Dow executive goes on television and promises more than 12 billion dollars in reparations. The story runs twice on BBC and garners international headlines before anyone realizes that Andy is not in fact an employee of Dow.

Not all of the Yes Men’s actions are as innately serious as their work on behalf of the people Bhopal. Much of the work they do is not just outrageous but costumed as well. In one instance they pose as representatives of Halliburton and present a conference with the Halliburton SurvivaBalls™ which you can see on their faux Halliburton website http://theyesmen.org/agribusiness/halliburton/index.html or http://www.survivaball.com/. And then there is the gold manager’s leisure suite with its giant TV topped phallus which was presented under a breakaway suit as Andy and Mike masqueraded as members of the WTO.

The documentaries that the Yes Men make are a circus of the absurd. Not only do they not get arrested but they are invited back places. People try and order SurvivaBalls and applaud the leisure suit. It’s a little terrifying.