A day out with the Yes Men

By Charlie Davies

Last Thursday morning, I got an email from Mike Bonano of the Yes Men.

“hello... please do not forward this email.
on thursday april 28 (today) at 3 in the afternoon (15:00) near the
gloucester road tube stop in london, the yes men will be speaking in the
guise of a major corporation at a business conference. This email
is going out to a dozen of our friends in the event that you might be in
that area wearing a business suit tomorrow. If so, we could use your
help... thanks! Mike”

Mike and his friend Andy have been spending the last few years going to global conferences and saying the most outrageous things they can think of whilst impersonating major corporations.

It started when the two of them set up a website that looked exactly like that of the WTO, but they used theirs to exaggerate and satirise the official site. But TV researchers and conference organisers started emailing them asking for quotes. And TV appearances. And asking if they’d like to give lectures. They said yes.

Now, they go to press conferences and lectures whenever they're asked to. . They’ve adovocated slavery. They’ve announced the closure of the World Trade Organisation. They’ve been arrested for trying to break into the Davos conference. They’ve appeared on CNN, the BBC and newspapers all round the world. George Bush once called them Garbagemen.

I called them up the number at the bottom of Mike’s email.