The "Yes Men" critique the media with a very active approach, with the intention of directly trying to alter the way the media shapes the real world. Their antics are interesting in that they draw attention to large corporations for a lot of the reasons that people aren't typically exposed to. the juxtaposition of the Yes Men's actions against those of the actual heads of corporations draws a lot of attention to the absence of corporate concern for the people which their companies affect. Their process may be considered something akin to culture jamming because of the way it forces corporations and the general public to reassess the practices of corporate culture when viewed under a new light. Though the Yes Men might create some false hopes in the process, the overall attention they generate in the process outweighs the disadvantages of their method.
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Two things:
ReplyDelete1) Did they actually generate all that much attention? I seem to remember that, by their own admission, nothing really changed in response to their antics.
2) Maybe it was the way they spun their video, but it seemed to me the the spreading of false hope was largely.. well, false. Something the media created to take away from their underlying message perhaps.