A Yes Man Talks About the Chamber Prank
| Mon Oct. 19, 2009 12:00 PM PDT
As news of the Yes Men's prank on the Chamber of Commerce spread this morning, I phoned the contact listed on their phony press release announcing the Chamber's change of heart about climate change. I left a message for supposed Chamber flack Erica Avidus, and a couple of hours later I received a call from Andy Bichlbaum, one half of the Yes Men (he's the one on the right). "Are you Erica?" I asked him. "I guess so," he said, sounding a little giddy. He'd been watching some "hilarious" cable clips from his fake press conference and was basking in the absurdist glory. Speaking as himself, he talked more about the Yes Men's latest feat and why it took a sham Chamber of Commerce to reveal that the real Chamber's climate policy is "a big hoax on the American public." Bichlbaum, who's gone by aliases such as Jude Finnisterra and Hank Hardy Unruh, also did some linguistic analysis of the real Chamber spokesman's name, concluding that he, too, is just another fake.
MJ: How long have you been planning this? When did the Chamber of Commerce show up on your radar screen as a potential target?
AB: They showed up as soon as these defections started happening. We planned this about a week and a half ago. The Chamber's absurd stance is really what inspired us, of course. The US is the one thing that's holding up the talks in Copenhagen and we have to send Obama to Copenhagen with a climate bill; even though the Kerry-Boxer one isn't great, it's something. And the chamber is opposing climate change legislation and the whole rest of the world is saying we need to do something. Even a lot of big companies are saying we need to do something. The chamber, representing the biggest and stodgiest and most powerful corporations in America is just saying, "Nah, let's let the whole planet go to rot." We just wanted to show what it would look like if they didn't take that absurd stance. And none of the reporters in the room were really surprised.
MJ: The press conference was interrupted by the Chamber's spokesman, Eric Wohlschlegel.
AB: Well, he claims to be.
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MJ: He claims to be their spokesman?
AB: He claims to be executive director of communications for the Chamber. Wohlschlegel—if you look up that word in German, "wohl," I think means strong and "schlegel" means something like hammer. So you know what kind of person whould have "strong hammer" as a surname. It's clearly a joke. [For the record: Wohlschegel really is the Chamber's communications guy.] The Chamber's position on climate change is clearly a big hoax on the American public. They're clearly just making fun of us, saying that it's not important or we don't need climate legislation, that we need a Scopes Monkey Trial. They're just making fun of us and they're proving that they're completely illegitimate and a fake entity.
MJ: In your fake press release you say that the Chamber represents 300,000 businesses. But the real chamber likes to say it represents 3 million, as my colleague Josh Harkinson has been reporting.
AB: Right! See, we're even more honest and accurate than they are even when we're trying to hoax them. it's just pathetic.
MJ: Have you gotten any more response from the Chamber, besides the spokesperson saying what you were doing was a fraud and breaking the law?
AB: Not yet. We have sentinels posted at various courtrooms to catch them lodging a motion against us or something. But they seem to be laying very low. I think they said it's a very sad day. And it is.
MJ: You sound upset.
AB: Yeah, very upset. [Giggles.]
Comments
So let me get this
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Oct. 20, 2009 9:00 AM PDT.
So let me get this straight:
1) these guys have deemed that their best bet to enact change on an important issue is to lie, cheat and manipulate their way around town? How, then, are they any better than the Chamber itself or any of the other corporate 'evildoers' they claim to attack?
2) isn't it a little hypocritical to go after 'Big Business" and declare them to the the root of all the world's problems when these clowns are clearly seeking to make money off this venture of theirs? I love how people attack capitalism and then use it to advance their own agendas.
The spirit is there...but the approach is all wrong.
Dude, it's called satire.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Oct. 20, 2009 10:13 AM PDT.
Dude, it's called satire. look it up if you don't get it. They became what they were mocking to make a point. and yes their 'lies' and deception have us all talking about the Chamber's real position..... get it now?
The Yes Men...
Submitted by heliosmou on Wed Oct. 21, 2009 2:58 AM PDT.
Elginism. n. 1801. An act of cultural vandalism.
You don’t get it, I see.
Talking to the first dude here.
Yes Men
Submitted by James Paul (not verified) on Tue Oct. 20, 2009 1:52 PM PDT.
I've followed these guys' work. They have tons of nerve and I've seen them pull off a lot more outrageous stunts with points well taken. One was marketing a ridiculous survival suit for rich people at a World trade summit. Another time was recyling fast food after passing it through the bowells and selling it to poor people. They may seen cynical, but take a good look at the power structure in place to see what real cynicysm is.
How pathetic and dangerous
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue Oct. 20, 2009 7:23 PM PDT.
These people should be taken to court. They clearly could have affected our economy in an adverse way. This type of stuff is juvenile at best and criminal at worst! The last thing we need to do as country is give away our sovereignty in Copenhagen!
Good interview too. You
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Oct. 21, 2009 12:30 AM PDT.
Good interview too. You should show this to Kate Sheppard.
MOJO got lead by the nose here
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Oct. 21, 2009 5:52 AM PDT.
The Yes Men schtick is about as novel as tatoos. When they first started doing these things the point was to punk the MSM which breathlessly showed up and published the renunciation as a matter of straight "news". Now they show up to make news of the send up. The so-called parody here is pretty thin gruel. I wonder whether we would see much humor in a mock press conference for Planned Parenthood announcing the discovery that abortion kills babies. Probably not. But the post here pronouncing this criminal or actionable betrays an abyssmal ignorance of the First Amendment as well. MOJO has done a commendable job of covering the Chamber's craven position on the merits. This didn't add much.
Please, this stunt was a
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Oct. 21, 2009 10:43 AM PDT.
Please, this stunt was a total failure, but nice try at face-saving, Dave Gilson. The guy's voice was all a-quiver when finally confronted with the fact that everyone knew he was a liar. (And btw, I guess it's just a coincidence that the White House stated they wanted to "neuter" the Chamber the day before?) There's a fine line between ingenious and idiotic, and you are nowhere near it.
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