Massive Chevron Ad Campaign Derailed
News outlets,
citizens duped by web of deceit - but whose?
A day-long
comedy of errors began Monday morning when the Yes Men,
supported by Rainforest Action Network and Amazon Watch,
pre-empted Chevron's enormous new “We Agree
“Chevron's super-expensive fake street art is a cynical attempt to gloss over the human rights abuses and environmental degradation that is the legacy of Chevron's operations in Ecuador, Nigeria, Burma and throughout the world,” said Ginger Cassady, a campaigner at Rainforest Action Network. “They must think we're stupid.”
“They say we're
'interrupting the dialogue,'” said Andy Bichlbaum of the
Yes Men, referring to Chevron's terse condemnation
The activists' pre-emptive campaign began
early Monday with a press release from a spoof Chevron
domain
Nine hours later, after producing its own “We
Agree” press release
Throughout the day, a sort of slow vaudeville unfolded on the web, as a number of outlets, from industry mouthpieces to the AFP and even a watchdog group, produced accidental mash-ups of “real” and fake information.
First, Fast Company fell for the hoax
(archived article here
Shortly
after that, Energy Digital, an online source providing
“news and information for Energy Executives”
(capitalization theirs), quoted extensively
Even the AFP found itself duped (original article
archived here
Nor
were industry watchdog groups immune. “Oil Watchdog”
dissected the hoax minutely and accurately, before citing
Advertising Age as one of the outlets duped. That whole
article
“If you really want to snooker the media, it's pretty hard for them to resist,” said Mike Bonanno of the Yes Men. “We cobbled together some fake releases with string and thumbtacks and chewing gum, and we fooled the most respectable outlets.”
“Chevron is doing what we did, a million times over, with a ginormous budget - and it never reveals its subterfuge,” said Bichlbaum. “No wonder the media's full of lies.”
“Yesterday's spoof was a comedy of errors, but what's happening in Ecuador is no joke,” said Mitch Anderson, a campaigner at Amazon Watch. “While Chevron spends tens of millions every year to greenwash their image and fool the media, Ecuadorians continue to die from their toxic legacy."
Yesterday's hoax is just the beginning for
the activists. “Stay tuned,” said RAN's Cassady.
“There's a lot more to come in the days ahead. We're going
to keep Chevron scrambling
ENDS