The Yes Men, are two guys named, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno who spend their time critiquing media but playing pranks on major companies and media organizations. They pretend to be different government officials, corporate officials, and other controversial subjects. They make fake websites that help bring down media but messing with the stock prices. If a company like Union Carbide, tries to get away with poisoning victims in India yet settle in a negligent way, the Yes Men go after them. Luckily Dow bought out Union Carbide, so the Yes Men created a website for Dow, only to be invited to a conference on international finance. They wanted to go to this to show bankers that the logic of ripping off poor countries is not the way to go.
They break down media by going in and pranking them to a point where people start to believe that what they are doing is real. They get in disguise and then go impersonate Dow representatives. The make up fake market values to see if people respond and how they accept this news which is usually understood and accepted because media can be so influential.
In class we discuss how big an influence media has on our lives and this is what the Yes Men are critiquing. While they are taking down companies by impersonating them, soon to embarrass them, only to show how their work can ruin a stock because of how influential media has become. All they had to do is go to a conference and pretend to be Dow and yet all the people at the conference loved them for their 'refreshing honesty.'
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment