The Yes Men are launching The Yes Lab so activist groups and individuals can carry out creative, media-getting actions of their own!
For
years, the Yes Men have been tinkering with side-splitting mischief as a
way to fight injustice. Our latest film about those efforts, The Yes Men Fix the World, won lots of awards and was released all over the planet... but it simply did not fix the world.
So a year ago, we decided that showing what we do wasn’t enough: we needed to help people to actually do it themselves. We called our idea The Yes Lab for Creative Activism. It's a factory for meaningful mischief, and a system for helping organizations and individuals carry out
Yes Men-style actions on their own, to get media attention for
important issues. But the Yes Lab is more than that: it also aims to help YOU take action on
issues of social importance.
Today, after a year of testing and nearly a dozen successes, we're proud to announce that the Yes Lab is ready for prime time! It’s got a set of cool tools
in development, that will soon help YOU get involved in new Yes Lab
projects, and even to launch them. And it’s got a new home at NYU, with space, lots of eager participants, and an ambitious new structure that will soon be cranking out many new projects.
The
trouble is that in spite of all that, we still have zero budget for the
first round of projects themselves! And that’s why you’re reading this
now. We’re asking for $10,000, to make the all-new Yes Lab the lean, mean,
change-making machine it can be. Any amount raised over $10,000 will
bankroll projects beyond the first round.
FAQ
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Today, corporations, with government complicity, are robbing ever more from the poor to give to the rich, while our infrastructure crumbles and services disappear. On an even bigger scale, politicians are doing next to nothing to curb emissions, even as record storms, fires, floods and tornadoes ravage the planet—because doing something would interfere with short-term profits. If ever there were a time to get active, now would be that time. There are many ways to do so, of course—and although humor may not be the most important, history does show that funny actions can have a huge role in shaking off tyranny. The Yes Lab has proven that it can help produce a few funny, revealing actions. Now, it’s time for it to produce many more revealing funny actions!
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You mean besides all the above reasons? Well: (1) Contributing is as fun as some kinds of sex. (2) Watching the results is as fun as several more kinds of sex. (3) The next time a big, repulsive, granny-beating corporation is exposed for all to laugh at by a Yes Lab-generated action, you can tell your own granny that you made it happen. (4) You get tchotchkes, knickknacks, schwag, and bric-a-brac with your bedlam. So what are you waiting for?
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Since we started testing the Yes Lab, it’s helped derail a $90 million Chevron greenwashing campaign, reveal how sick the Coal industry is for ignoring childhood asthma, knock $3.5 billion dollars off General Electric’s share price, and a number of other hilarious, mischievous actions allowing regular folks to have the kind of media impact usually reserved for celebrities, robber-barons and mass murderers (and we all prefer not to be that). Compared to traditional kinds of so-called “Public Relations”—the sort that corporations spend billions on every year—it’s an awfully cheap way to get important stories out in the media.
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Not space: starting this fall, the Yes Lab has a brand-new home at New York University complete with lots of eager, funny collaborators who care about stuff. Not a new website: it’s got one, just launched, and will soon have a set of online tools and resources to get people like you more involved. Not an army: it’s already got one, since anyone on our mailing list can work on Yes Lab projects (for example!). All the Yes Lab needs money for is to support the PROJECTS that'll start rolling out shortly. The $10,000 raised will all go to making the all-new Yes Lab the lean, mean, change-making machine it can be; any amount raised over $10,000 will bankroll projects beyond the first round.
370
Backers
$14,234
pledged of $10,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding period
Sep 7, 2011 -
Oct 17, 2011
(40 days)
- 3 created · 5 backed
- Andy Bichlbaum 1825 friends
- Website: yeslab.org
Pledge $1 or more
45 backers
Public thank you on the Yes Lab website
Estimated delivery: Oct 2011Pledge $10 or more
78 backers
A password-protected preview of a video that will end up in our new film, “The Yes Men are Revolting”
Estimated delivery: Oct 2011Pledge $25 or more
125 backers
Signed copy of the fake NY Times newspaper + above
Estimated delivery: Oct 2011Pledge $50 or more
36 backers
Signed copy of the fake NY Post Newspaper + above
Estimated delivery: Oct 2011Pledge $100 or more
27 backers
Signed copy of the Yes Men Fix the World DVD + above
Estimated delivery: Oct 2011Pledge $250 or more
2 backers
The right to name a character in a Yes Lab action + above
Estimated delivery: Oct 2011Pledge $500 or more
0 backers
Survivaball fragment signed by the Yes Men + above
Estimated delivery: Oct 2011Pledge $1,000 or more
2 backers
Invitation to attend “The Yes Men are Revolting” release party + above
Estimated delivery: Oct 2011Pledge $2,000 or more
0 backers
Yes Lab Skype brainstorm / lunch around your issue + the above
Estimated delivery: Dec 2011
