You can't go as public as this and tell everybody how you've been so successful in the past without at least somebody out there taking notice. They've let the cat out of the bag and now people aren't going to be as easy to fool. It will probably require more than just a web site saying you're part of Dow Chemical before they invite you to appear before a television audience of over 300 million. In the movie the Yes Men describe their two most dependable methods for attending conferences or being invited to speak at an event. The first is the setting up of websites which give a visitor the impression of being affiliated with the company in question. In the case of the Dow Chemical announcement they had set up a web site called DowEthics.com designed to look like a real Dow site that dealt with issues just like Bhopal and a BBC producer contacted them with an invitation to appear on the 20th anniversary show.
In other instances they would find out about conferences they wanted to attend - let's say a meeting of over 500 oil industry representatives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada - and they would contact the organizers and ask them if they would like the head of Exxon to come and speak. At the last minute he won't be able to attend and his special assistant will be flown in to give the presentation and speak in his place. Which is exactly what they did to get invited to an oil industry conference in Calgary, Alberta in order to introduce Exxon's newest bio-fuel — candles made from dead bodies. As there were going to be thousands of corpses caused by global warming - why not take advantage of this supply of raw materials? They even came with a sample candle and a video of the loyal Exxon employee who upon discovering he was terminally ill had volunteered himself for rendering.
Aside from detailing some of their more elaborate stunts, they've also included interviews with those voices who represent the free market system. These men, representatives of some of the biggest conservative think tanks in America, make no bones about what they stand for and boast about their achievements. One of them takes great pride in saying how if it wasn't for his group America would have signed the Kyoto Accord. Part of the campaign they ran included a commercial, paid for by Exxon, whose tag line was: "Carbon dioxide - they call it pollution, we call it life." Their logic being since such things as trees and plants breath carbon dioxide, the exhaust their industries create support the growth of plant life. Of course they make no mention of the fact that industry has been responsible for such massive deforestation there aren't nearly enough trees left in the world to absorb all the carbon dioxide being produced these days.








Article comments