Today I stumbled across a group called The Yes Men who assume the identities of government and corporate officials to communicate specific political messages. This is an interesting phenomena because the general public, so as far as I can tell, will believe anything they read or see on television as the truth, no matter how far fetched. The Yes Men, along with every other media savvy entity in the world, are using this vulnerability to communicate their message.

The following is a video of The Yes Men impersonating a Dow Chemical executive who stated that the company was taking “full responsibility for the 1984 Bhopal disaster.” Dow Chemical lost $2 billion in market capitalization in 23 minutes after this interview was broadcast by the BBC.



In their most recent prank, The Yes Men impersonated officials from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in New Orleans and announced that HUD was reversing its policy of replacing low-income housing with mixed-income housing as part of the recovery effort. HUD termed this stunt “a cruel hoax.”

While I find it difficult to condone this activity, I can’t help but think we bring it upon ourselves by simply believing what we see. After all, people bought the February 5, 2003 weapons of mass destruction speech given by Colin Powell on behalf of the Bush Administration hook, line, and sinker. It was no less false in content than the stunts enumerated above. Watch for yourself:

Click the image to watch Powell’s speech


A Powell aide later stated that his involvement in this event was the “lowest point of my life.”

I guess we get what we deserve. Until people stop to think, to consider, to view critically what is presented to them in the media and make their own judgments, we’ll continue to be vulnerable to all sorts of propaganda peddled by all sorts of people, for good reasons and bad. It’s sad. Unfortunately, it’s true. And, the “cruel hoaxes” are only going to become more intense and effective I think.

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