The Yes Men are an acclaimed group of ‘culture jammers,’ or people who stick it to the man through elaborate hoaxes that fool the media, onlookers, and the involved organizations. If you recall, they are responsible for the circulation of the fake New York Times paper that announced the end of the Iraq War back in November of last year. Today, the jammers have released an open-call for potential volunteers to aid in their next socially conscious, “large-scale shenanigan.”
The advertisement is as follows:
“Help the Yes Men! The Yes Men need your help! If you live in New York, legendary cultural jammers the Yes Men and friends need you now to pull off some large-scale shenanigans in September. It’ll be fun and stupid, and it’ll create a splash in the media. Your work COULD get seen by millions! To volunteer, please contact larken@artevolve.org. Here’s what they need: * People who can sew or build things. * People who know how to shoot and edit video and have their own equipment. * People who enjoy wearing deeply ridiculous costumes in potentially perilous situations. The work will go on for four weeks starting now. You can volunteer for any length of time that you like. The location will be: 342 Maujer, Bushwick (L train to Grand Street) http://www.houseofyes.org”
What do you think the Yes Men are planning?
Given their reputation, a Yes Men “spokesman” will pose as a member of an organization as a means of exposing/satirizing the company’s true character. To give you an idea of their capabilities, the Yes Men crashed 2007’s GO-EXPO, Canada’s largest oil conference, as fake ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council representatives. An undercover Yes Man took the podium, explaining that any global disasters that result from current energy policies will not effect oil output. His reasoning was that “the oil industry could ‘keep fuel flowing’ by transforming the billions of people who die into oil.” The audience did not flinch.
It is also worth noting that The Yes Men are the sole reason George W. said, “there ought to be limits to freedom.” We are dealing with powerful pranksters here. The biggest hint for their latest scheme is “deeply ridiculous costumes in potentially perilous situations.” Sounds like an attempt to scare Hollywood from cashing in on more Superhero flicks to us. We wouldn’t mind.
What are you thoughts on the upcoming shenanigan?