For my new media project, I was influenced by the Yes Men and their concept of "identity correction." The Yes Men are a group of activists that impersonate CEOs of high profile companies, such as Exxon or Dow Chemicals. Occasionally they are asked appear at legitimate corporate events. These appearances give them the opportunity to "correct" the identity of the company they are supposedly representing, by revealing ugly truths to the audience or by making ridiculous or offensive proposals.
On June 15, 2007 at GO-EXPO, Canada's largest oil conference, the Yes Men appeared as representatives of ExxonMobil. They proposed using dead bodies as new alternative fuel source. The new fuel, called "Vivoleum," would be made from the countless people that will die from global warming and climate changes caused by our current dependency on oil.
I thought it would be interesting if I did some variant on correcting something corporate. I bought some motor oil and converted it into Vivoleum, then I put it back on the shelf. The back label contains a brief description of the concept behind the fuel.
The Yes Men strive to generate awareness of an issue by being audacious, being novel, and causing a scene. I think the novelty of seeing a product that is clearly fake on a shelf is attention grabbing, but I don't think it's going to generate awareness. I think that this is more funny than political, but it might provoke someone's curiosity.
Sources
The Yes Men.com: Exxon's Climate-Victim Candles
Exxon Proposes Burning Humanity For Fuel if Climate Calamity Hits
Segio-
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved this piece! So simple but extremely witty and clever and to the point. Great documentation too, def. addresses taboo, controversial issues and a definite influence and inspiration of the yes men! Hooorraay!
Sergio*... my bad dude
ReplyDeleteThis was such a cool idea. I really want to start seeing little sarcastic Sergio products popping up on shelves at convenience stores. Think about all the companies you could attack: Coca Cola, oil, meat, whatever.
ReplyDeleteI thought this piece was very clever and really cool. Excellent idea! What a funny and unique way to tackle the assignment. I hope you didn't get too much crap for putting it back on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome. You've re-created these labels so accurately - if I was buying this product I'd probably grab one of the ones you left in place of it and not think twice about it. I love how you edited the front and the back with your own illustrations and text. This also reminds me of when street artist Banksy took a bunch of Paris Hilton's cds and replaced them with cds of her saying "That's hot" for people to buy. Your project rules.
ReplyDeleteThis project fit the requirements to a t. This piece displays your artist skill, your clever sense of humor and tied it all to the ideas of the Yesmen and their gorilla tactics. I could see this as a prime for a media literacy assignment that involves altering advertisements and packaging of brand-name companies.
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