Editor’s note: Yesterday I noticed this suspicious-looking email from Chevron Oil in my inbox and dispatched it without opening it to my junk mail folder. How the hell did Chevron get my email address? Lo and behold, today I received an email from the Yes Men claiming responsibility for the prank, in which they preempted the oil giant’s attempt at a “greenwashing” ad campaign and managed to confuse the heck out of the media.
We’ve met the Yes Men — Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum — before in the pages of Planet Waves. Anti-corporate activists, they create media hoaxes with a mission. In one case, they crashed the 2007 Gas and Oil Expo with candles made from “Vivoleum,” a fictitious sustainable oil substitute made from human flesh. More recently (about a year ago), Eric fell in with them as the promoted their movie, The Yes Men Fix The World — photographing a screening that became a protest event in a Manhattan Whole Foods. Mike and Andy have elevated environmental activism into performance art carried out with a precision that’s nothing short of astonishing.
I’ve included their email from today in its entirety with links, since they describe the shenanigans so well. — amanda
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2010
Massive Chevron Ad Campaign Derailed, Media Slapstick Follows
News outlets, citizens duped by web of deceit — but whose?
A day-long comedy of errors began Monday morning when the Yes Men, supported by Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch, pre-empted Chevron’s enormous new “We Agree” ad campaign with a satirical version of their own. The activists’ version highlights Chevron’s environmental and social abuses — the same abuses they say Chevron is attempting to “greenwash.”
“Chevron’s super-expensive fake street art is a cynical attempt to gloss over the human rights abuses and environmental degradation that is the legacy of Chevron’s operations in Ecuador, Nigeria, Burma and throughout the world,” said Ginger Cassady, a campaigner at Rainforest Action Network. “They must think we’re stupid.”
“They say we’re ‘interrupting the dialogue,’” said Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men, referring to Chevron’s terse condemnation. “What dialogue? Chevron’s ad campaign is an insulting, confusing monologue – with many tens of millions of dollars behind it.”
The activists’ pre-emptive campaign began early Monday with a press release from a spoof Chevron domain, which launched the fake “We Agree” campaign hours before the real Chevron could launch its ads. The fake “We Agree” site featured four “improved” advertisements, complete with downloadable PDF files to be used in on-the-street postering.