LATEST YES MEN PRANK TARGETS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ON GLOBAL WARMING

By A. Kronstadt

The Yes Men [http://theyesmen.org/], a group of anti-corporate pranksters whose
antics have been covered previously in the SHADOW , have struck again on October 19,
on the eve of the premiere of their documentary film The Yes Men Fix The World
[http://theyesmenfixtheworld.com/]. 

This time, Yes Man Jacques Servin (a.k.a. Andy Bichlbaum) issued a press release and
reserved a room for a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington in
the name of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a pro-business lobbying group which, among
other things, continues to endorse Bush-era junk science concerning global warming
and opposes regulation to cut the emission of greenhouse gases. The Chamber has been
waging a multi-million dollar advertising campaign intended to depict international
negotiations to curtail global warming as threatening to American business. The
campaign has resulted in a number of corporations presenting themselves as "green",
including Apple Computer and Levi Strauss & Co., resigning their memberships in the
Chamber. 

At the press conference, Bichlbaum, introducing himself to reporters as Chamber of
Commerce Representative Hingo Sembra, announced that the Chamber was reversing its
position on climate change and now supported the Kerry-Boxer bill in the Senate
which would set limits on carbon dioxide emissions by U.S. industry and mandate
other conservation measures. Bichlbaum told reporters in the name of the Chamber:

"We believe that climate legislation currently being considered by the U.S. Senate
is a great start towards a bill that will spur American innovation, create jobs, and
give us all a good chance of survival. We at the Chamber have tried to keep climate
science from interfering with business. But without a stable climate, there will be
no business." 

Other members of the Yes Men including Bichlbaum's partner Mike Bonanno, as well as
activists from the Avaaz Action Foundation [http://www.avaaz.org/en/] accompanied
Bichlbaum at the podium dressed as suits from the C of C and giving the event a
believable corporate atmosphere.

The "reversal" by the Chamber of Commerce was immediately taken up by Reuters and
went out as "breaking news" on Fox Business Network, only to be retracted moments
later. The fake press release that was handed out at the Press Club was read on
CNBC, and when it was subsequently announced to be bogus, conservative pundit Larry
Kudlow popped on screen and accused the White House of being behind the hoax. 

Meanwhile, back at the Press Club, an official Chamber of Commerce spokesperson by
the name of Eric Wohlshlegel stormed into the press conference, approached
Bichlbaum, denounced the press conference as a fraud and began handing out business
cards to establish his legitimacy. Reporters questioned both purported C of C
spokespeople, and the real guy, Wohlschlegel, was forced to respond to some
embarrassing requests to clarify his organization's actual positions on climate
change. [A video of the press conference and the confrontation between Bichlbaum and
Wohlschlegel can be seen here].

In addition to the gag press conference, the Yes Men put up a slick and credible gag
Web site with a statement from C of C President and CEO Thomas J. Donahue announcing
his group's "reversal." [As of this writing, it is still viewable here]. Lawyers for the
Chamber of Commerce have launched proceedings under the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act to force the Internet provider hosting the site to shut it down.

The Chamber of Commerce has also filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court
[http://www.uschamber.com/assets/091026_complaint.pdf] against members of the Yes
Men, alleging trademark violations in connection with the fake press conference and
Web site. Numerous court decisions have already upheld parody as First Amendment protected
expression, but the C of C is alleging that the Yes Men were attempting to promote
their movie and "other products." 

The C of C claim that the Yes Men press conference is a commercial infringement 
would be hard to prove,  as the Yes Men clearly pulled off this action as a part of their 
political mission. The Chamber also promptly jumped on the Yes Men gag to incorporate 
it into a fundraising pitch to their right-wing constituency [viewable here].

The Chamber of Commerce action was part and parcel of the Yes Men's overall strategy
of "culture jamming," or subversion of advertising messages to turn the tables on
advertisers. It is consistent with their past efforts at "identity correction,"
including their famous fake World Trade Organization Web Site [still viewable at
http://www.gatt.org/] proposing a formalized slavery market for Africa, which are
intended to show up tight-lipped corporate spokespeople and force them to confront
their evil deeds by means of impersonation. The very fact that all that is needed to
pull off these attention-getting actions is a little bit of computer savvy plus a
few cheap suits to transform themselves into corporate creeps, is itself empowering.

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