Dow Does the Right Thing
Video-installation, 2004
One day Andy, purporting to be a Dow Chemical spokesperson, gets on the biggest TV news program in the world (BBC) and announces that Dow will finally take responsibility for the largest industrial accident in history, the Bhopal catastrophe, in which hundreds of thousands of people were exposed to toxic chemicals. The result: as people worldwide celebrate, Dow’s stock value loses two billion dollars. People want Dow to do the right thing, but the market decides that it can’t. The reality hits Andy and Mike like a ton of bricks: we have created a market system that makes doing the right thing impossible, and the people who appear to be leading are actually following its pathological dictates. If we keep putting the market in the driver’s seat, it could happily drive the whole planet off a cliff. “It takes a rare bird to even think up the stunts these guys manage, and an amazing, determined courage to pull them off. These are two of the most creative activists ever!” — Humor Times
Artists' Bio:
"The Yes Men" are a culture jamming activist duo and network of supporters created by Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos (known also as Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno). They smuggle out the stories of the fortified compounds of commerce to provide a public glimpse at the behind-the- scenes world of big business. The stories are often both shocking and hilarious. "The Yes Men" have impersonated World Trade Organization, Dow Chemical Corporation, and Bush administration spokesmen on TV and at business conferences around the world. They do this (a) in order to demonstrate some of the mechanisms that keep bad people and ideas in power, and (b) because it’s absurdly fun. Their main goal is to focus attention on the dangers of economic policies that place the rights of capital before the needs of people and the environment. Lately they have been trying to save the planet from climate catastrophe.