Hijinks

Most of the hijinks below were undertaken by the Yes Men together with partner organizations. For some of them we did most of the work, but for some we just gave some advice. If you're inspired to try something like one of these on your own, check out our cookbook and get cracking!

Calling All Climate Activists

Reveal date: Dec 15 2014

Before the UN Climate Talks in Lima, the New York Times told us: “At stake now is the difference between a newly unpleasant world and an uninhabitable one.” But in Lima, the world's governments chose the latter, offering the world not solutions but rather a roadmap to global burning.

Are we really just going to sit by and watch until most species on earth—including our own—go extinct? Or are we going to turn up the heat on our tone-deaf leaders in every way that we can, until they finally realize they have to stand up to the fossil fuel companies, and stop the carbon madness?

Reed Divests

Reveal date: May 19 2014 Tagged: climate change, divestment, fossil fuels

Yes Man and Reed College alum Mike Bonanno teamed up with students to deliver a fake announcement that Reed will divest from fossil fuels over his commencement speech.

Operation Second Thanks

Reveal date: Apr 30 2014 Tagged: climate change, Department of Energy, fracking, Homeland Security, Keystone XL

Environmental and indigenous rights activists team up with the Yes Men to impersonate the U.S. Department of Energy, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the Department of Defense, and announce the nation's new energy plan.

Black Pete is beloved, totally racist

Reveal date: Nov 21 2013 Tagged: racism, the Netherlands, Zvarte Piet

A Dutch man in full costume appears on a Canadian talk show to explain the blackface elements of a holiday deeply cherished in the Netherlands.

SaveCanada

Reveal date: Sep 16 2013 Tagged: Canada, Keystone XL, oil, pipeline, Tar Sands, TransCanada, YL

In towns across Canada, troupes of mischievous activists disrupted the attempts of TransCanada (of Keystone XL fame) to ram through another Tar Sands pipeline, Energy East, by dressing as TransCanada reps, but with "SaveCanada" logos, and telling the real story.

The Gazprom/Shell Polar Patnership

Reveal date: Aug 21 2013 Tagged: Amsterdam, arctic, climate change, Gazprom, oil, Shell

Royal Dutch Shell and Russia's Gazprom team up to open the newly accessible Russian Arctic to oil drilling. To help them celebrate, Greenpeace teamed up with the Yes Lab and activists from Russia and the Netherlands to throw a barge party on the canals of Amsterdam, complete with a drugged up polar bear, a marching band, and a singing Russian child.

Monsanto and the Carnival of Corn

Reveal date: Aug 14 2013 Tagged: corn, genetically modified, Mexico, Monsanto

In Chiapas, México, a group of students and activists issued a fake Monsanto press release announcing the Mexican government had officially approved the sale of their patented seeds on a commercial scale. Though the announcement was a fake, Monsanto apparently felt very threatened.

Deport the Statue

Reveal date: Jun 13 2013 Tagged: deportation, immigration, undocumented, women, YL

Human rights organization Breakthrough partnered with the Yes Lab to focus on how immigration reform legislation affects women, and Legals for the Preservation of American Culture (LPAC) was born. The fictional group launched their anti-immigrant campaign by calling for the deportation of the beloved icon.

DREAMers Keep On Dreaming

Reveal date: Jun 5 2013 Tagged: education, immigration, students, undocumented, YL

College for undocumented youth? The Common Application, Inc. finally accepts students without papers, offering equal access to upwards of 500 private colleges. The real Common App denies, denies, denies

Bank’s Dodgy Climate Portfolio Revealed

Reveal date: Feb 28 2013 Tagged: coal, Europe, fossil fuels, investment, YL

Counter Balance, a coalition of NGOs dedicated to holding the European Investment Bank accountable to the EU's clean energy standards, teamed up with the Yes Lab to hijack an EIB press conference and tell them to stop financing coal.

The Dalai Lama Welcoming Committee

Reveal date: Oct 16 2012 Tagged: college, Dalai Lama, divestment, fossil fuels, Middlebury, students, YL

In honor of a visit from the Dalai Lama, Middlebury College announces that it will divest from industries of violence - with a little prodding from its student body.

Murder Is Bad

Reveal date: Oct 2 2012 Tagged: corporate personhood, Kiobel, murder, Nigeria, Shell, Supreme Court, torture

In the 1990's when Nigerians began to nonviolently protest Shell’s oil development, Shell collaborated with the Nigerian military regime to violently suppress opposition. More than 60 villages were raided, over 800 people were killed, and 30,000 more were displaced from their homes.

Flow of drugs in La Jolla stopped cold

Reveal date: Jul 31 2012 Tagged: drugs, Laura Duffy, pot, US Attorney General, YL

In July 2012, U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy announces that pharmacies in La Jolla, San Diego's wealthiest neighborhood, would be shut down because of medication abuse associated with those pharmacies. That was only the start....

Shell's Epic Party Fail

Reveal date: Jun 7 2012

To celebrate Shell’s era-defining Arctic drilling program, a gala is announced in Seattle’s historic Space Needle. The event goes haywire (and viral) when a miniature rig-drink-dispenser malfunctions.

Trans-Pacific Partnership Receives "Corporate Power Tool Award"

Reveal date: May 14 2012 Tagged: globalization, Obama, trade, Trans Pacific Partnership, YL

Is there a way to get lots of attention for something boring, secretive, and highly wonkish, with an acronym that sounds like stuff you wipe your butt with?

Your B of A

Reveal date: Apr 19 2012 Tagged: banks, occupy

Executives, investors, and opponents alike reacted with surprise to the news that Bank of America, realizing it was heading for a taxpayer bailout, was asking Americans to start thinking about what they'll do with the bank once they own it, and to start advertising that vision too.

Three Strikes, You're In!

Reveal date: Mar 6 2012 Tagged: McDonald's, police, racism, YL

To compensate victims of their racist and abusive "stop and frisk" policy, the New York Police Department partnered with McDonald’s to offer free Happy Meals™ to anyone stopped and frisked three times without charge or summons. Too yummy to be true?

Patriots for Self-Deportation

Reveal date: Jan 26 2012

If "anchor babies" are such a big issue, we should all look carefully to determine whether any one of our ancestors entered the country illegally. If they did, we should self-deport to (one of) our (many) illegal ancestors' country of origin. But which? SelfDeport.org can help you decide.

A Gift for Amsterdam

Reveal date: Jan 7 2012 Tagged: Amstedam, Squat, YL

A stately old animal shelter, abandoned for years in the middle of a beautiful Amsterdam neighborhood, and finally taken over by a group of squatters. A corporation with big, vague plans to turn the place into something for profit. An impotent city council. The neighborhood prefers the squatters. Who will win?

Occupy Wall Street actions

Reveal date: Sep 17 2011

Funny actions are funny. People like them. Therefore, ever since the first week Zuccotti was occupied, the Yes Lab has been working in the Occupy movement by helping create funny actions that highlight the messages of Occupy Wall Street, and also by helping to document and publicize the actions of others.