Laughtivism

In this workshop, we'll brainstorm fun, funny, and enjoyably risky ways to publicize issues of import to participants... and, hopefully, millions of others. Why so much emphasis on fun and funny? Because over the years, we've discovered that important issues can be delivered to mainstream America by adding large dollops of laughter. Our low-budget, work-intensive actions have drawn regular coverage from the major outlets (the New York Times, CNN, Reuters, AP, AFP, BBC, NPR and more) highlighting normally under-reported issues, such as the Bhopal chemical plant disaster, the terrible climate position of the Chamber of Commerce, and the shuttering of available low-income housing in post-Katrina New Orleans, to name just a few. In the last few years, we've spent most of our time giving away all our secrets to activist groups and individuals, and assisting them in caring out their own creative media projects.

Andy Bichlbaum

Andy Bichlbaum is a co-founder of the Yes Men, and has been doing "identity correction" or "laughtivism" since 1999. By impersonating leaders and big corporations who put profits ahead of everything else, the Yes Men publicly humiliate them and expose their criminal practices. For the last two years Andy has focused on the Yes Lab, a workshop to help activist groups carry out media-getting creative actions on their own.