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Review by Dave Shiflett
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- If you worship Milton Friedman, you’re going to loathe “Yes Men” Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno.
Their crusade against the “free-market cult” championed by the late Nobel Laureate is chronicled in “The Yes Men Fix The World,” which airs tonight on HBO at 9 p.m. New York time.
Often posing as spokesmen for “corporations we don’t like,” the political pranksters target Exxon Mobil Corp., Dow Chemical Co. and Halliburton Co. in high-profile spoofs that sometimes have a serious effect on the bottom line.
All in the name of truth, justice and renewable energy.
The first -- and most compelling -- segment clearly illustrates their modus operandi. The Yes Men create a fake Web site for Dow in anticipation of the 20th anniversary of the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India, where a toxic-gas leak at a Union Carbide pesticide plant killed thousands of people. (Dow later bought Union Carbide.)
Bichlbaum and Bonanno hoped the Web site would lure media outlets doing stories on the anniversary. The ruse worked even better than planned when Bichlbaum, posing as a Dow spokesman, told the BBC the company would clean up the disaster site and give billions of dollars to the survivors.
Stock Plunge
The interview triggered headlines across the world, and Dow’s market value plunged more than $2 billion in 23 minutes, according to the show. The hoax was quickly uncovered and the BBC issued an apology for the “elaborate deception” created by the Yes Men, but the damage was done.
Viewers who share their view that the “free-market cult puts everyone else at risk” will love this film. But if declarations that big oil is “destroying the planet” and Friedman was a “guru of greed” get your blood boiling, avoid the program at all costs.
Whatever your opinion, you’ve got to be impressed by the creativity and gall of the Yes Man.
They sabotage several business conferences, including one where they contend that Exxon Mobil has come up with a revolutionary renewable energy source made from victims of global warming. They pass around samples in candle form; when lit they supposedly smell like burning flesh.
Survival Suit
At another event, they pass themselves off as Halliburton reps introducing the SurvivaBall, an expensive inflatable suit designed to protect the well-heeled from natural and man-made disasters. While some in the audience appear to get the joke, others seem ready to be fitted for the suit right away.
While the show has other amusing moments, it drags in parts. And the Yes Men sometimes come across as smug and contradictory. Sure, big oil is making lots of money selling fuel, especially to guys like the Yes Men, whose frequent jetting from one continent to another leaves a carbon footprint any oil baron would envy.
That said, you’ve got to admire a couple of guys who produced 100,000 bogus copies of the New York Times in 2008 with stories announcing the end of the Iraq War, the indictment of George W. Bush for treason, the establishment of a free university system, the nationalization of the oil industry and the creation of a “maximum wage.”
Despite their subversive efforts, the Yes Men don’t always shock and awe. After one press-conference prank, they said, “instead of freaking out” audience members “just took our business cards.”
(Dave Shiflett is a critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer of this story: Dave Shiflett at dshifl@aol.com.
Last Updated: July 27, 2009 00:01 EDT
