The Yes Men are a culture jamming activist-duo consisting of Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno. Through actions of tactical media, The Yes Men primarily raise awareness about problematic social issues; most frequently, attention is brought to situations in which a person or group benefits from the detriment of others.
In their films, they practice a concept they have coined as “identity correction”, in which they impersonate entities that they dislike. The Yes Men operate under the mission statement of telling the truth and exposing lies. From their offices in Milwaukee, they create and maintain fake websites similar to ones they intend to spoof, which have successfully lead to numerous interview, conference, and TV talk show invitations.
They express the idea that corporations and governmental organizations often act in dehumanizing ways toward the public. Elaborate props are sometimes part of the ruse (e.g. Survivaball), as shown in their 2003 DVD release The Yes Men. The Yes Men have collaborated with other groups of similar interest, including Improv Everywhere and Steve Lambert.
From The Yes Men
“We have been impersonating people in power in to make political points for over a decade. The Yes Men Fix the World is our second feature film. It’s won a bucket of awards and accolades, but we’re still broke. We are hoping that people who share it will donate some money so that we can do even more outrageous actions.
How outrageous? Outrageous enough to get us sued! Not long ago The US Chamber of Commerce took us to court for impersonating them. That is why on this special p2p version of the Yes Men Fix the World, we have included an exclusive video that the US Chamber of Commerce does not want you to see. You can only see this surprising film on the exclusive VODO p2p release.
One final note: making films takes lots of hard work. And money. We busted our asses to make this film and still owe our friends barrels of cash they loaned us. By supporting us and joining the Yes Men Labs, you not only get a membership card and an entry into the prize draw, you also help us to pay all those people back and fund future projects. We’re sharing by P2P because we made this film to be watched, and with your help we’ll able to carry on with what we love doing.”
“Great fun! It takes some nerve, not to mention diabolical intelligence… to pull off the elaborate pranks devised by the Yes Men.” — New York Times
Related Links
The Yes Men Website
The Yes Men on Wikipedia
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