The Yes Men’s Mike Bonnano talks about pranking Dow ahead of their first European exhibition at FACT

Sep 2 2009 Liverpool Daily Post

BEFORE a mutual friend introduced them in the mid-90s, the Yes Men were busy making mischief in their own individual ways.

But together, Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum have been a tour de force, practising what they call “identity correction” – basically, pretending to be spokespeople from major corporations and making statements the organisations would do almost anything to avoid.

It all began when they created a fake World Trade Organisation website that received such high internet search engine rankings that people would visit it instead of the real thing.

“Eventually we figured out these people who were inviting us to speak at conferences might be happy to receive us,” recalls Bonanno, who is visiting Liverpool later this month for the Yes Men’s exhibition FACT, part of the Abandon Normal Devices festival.

“Neither of us could really act, but the nice thing about doing this is if someone thinks you’re somebody there is no suspension of disbelief necessary.”

The big break came in 2004 when Bichlbaum appeared on the BBC world news as Jude Finisterra, an imaginary spokesman for Dow Chemical. He stated the company had decided to repair damage to the environment and local people of Bhopal, in India, where a leak at a pesticide plant in 1984 had released an estimated 42 tonnes of toxic gas.

Some 300m viewers saw the bulletin and it rapidly became the highest-ranking news story on Google. In the aftermath of the broadcast, Dow Shares plummeted 3% – a loss of more than $2m. But the result was short-lived.

“It was a weird experiment into what would happen if a company did the right thing and the sad truth is that it would be punished,” says New York-born Bonanno, who lives in Scotland with his wife and two daughters.

So far, Barack Obama has been spared the brunt of their hi-jinks, though George Bush Jnr was a regular victim throughout his presidency.

However, when the Yes Men handed out 80,000 hoax copies of the New York Times filled with phoney positive news stories last year, it was a manifesto for the new President, says the 41-year-old. “It was telling everyone that now is the time to put the pressure on him,” he explains. “Even if he wants to make these changes, he’s going to have lots of pressure not to.”

The exhibition at FACT, which opens on September 23, will be the duo’s first in the UK and will feature what Bonanno describes as the “relics” of their pranks.

“It could be useful for people who want to do similar things,” says Bonanno. “They can just go in and it’s all laid out for them.”