Poster contest! Deadline July 15

Submitted by Andy Bichlbaum on June 24, 2009 - 10:19pm

After spending many years “borrowing” the look of corporations we didn't like, we’ve never gotten around to figuring out a look for ourselves.

But now, we have a new movie. It's called The Yes Men Fix the World (website coming soon), and after being on HBO this July, it's going to be everywhere. And we don't mean in every theater - we mean EVERYWHERE.

Well, maybe not. But having a movie that's out there really means we need a look. Because if we don't have a look, people won't know what we look like.

Yes. You're right. We can do without a look. Thank you for pointing that out. But we DO need a poster, one that will be crazy and funny and clear enough to reach American audiences and scream: “SEE THIS MOVIE! IT'LL BE REALLY FUNNY! (OK, it might tell you things you didn't know about the various ways corporations and their friends are destroying the planet and possibly dooming billions of us to an extremely unpleasant death - but it'll still be really funny!)”

We do have one poster, and we like it, but some people think it looks like it's advertising a remake of Sleeper, by Woody Allen.

So will you design a new one for us? Or do you know someone who will? We want a whole bunch!

Now, we don't expect you or your friends to do it for free. We have ways to pay you! We're deep in the hole from making this movie, and so we don't have much actual money. Or, actually, any. But so what? Dow Chemical might have thirty million dollars to tell us about Dow Hu, and Exxon a few million to pay our arch-enemies to deny climate change (some of these guys agreed to be in our movie!), but we have the following equally valuable things to entice you:

Of course, our workshops are much, much smaller than Santa's, so we don't have a LOT of these things. But the ten winning entries, at least, will get candles, maybe a Golden Skeleton keychain if we can find one amidst all our junk, and certainly a few DVDs thrown in the second they're available. All great for whatever non-commercial holiday you might celebrate!

Great. So now that we've agreed on these excellent terms, some specs:

  • Dimensions 27” x 40”
  • Final resolution and file format will be printing-appropriate (CMYK, EPS, etc.), but let's start with web-viewable JPG
  • Should have room for that credit stuff at the bottom
  • The film has also won the audience award at some festivals, so there should be “laurels."
  • There should be some space for activist organizations to add their sponsorship information - a “So-and-so Presents” sort of thing.

Some resources you might enjoy plundering or getting inspired by:

And some other things you might need:

Oh, and here's some advance praise for the movie - praise looks great on a poster, we're told!

    * “It shines with raw wit and originality.” – Newsweek
    * “Comedic vigilante justice… Media-savvy pie-to-the-face.” – USA Today
  • “This movie is a hoot, and a pertinent one at that…. There’s something tonic about the impudent laughter this engaging documentary provokes.” - Hollywood Reporter
  • "One of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and two of the ballsiest guys I've ever met. Thank God the Yes Men exist. - Morgan Spurlock, director of Supersize Me
  • “Finally the high priests of the free market get a massive dose of the disrespect they deserve. Hilarious, therapeutic, inspiring. The Yes Men are geniuses.” - Naomi Klein, best-selling author of The Shock Doctrine and No Logo

Thank you in advance. Please send submissions to people@theyesmen.org.

We look forward to sending you a candle. Our “brand” is now in your capable hands.