[All] FW: Yes Men ~ Dow throws a party, mainly zombies show up

[Susan Koswan]

This was just too priceless not to share.If you haven't heard of or seen the
Yes Men, ya gotta! I love when theatre and environmentalism converge. 

Happy Earth Day everyone!

Susan K

April 19, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DOW THROWS A DISMAL PARTY, FEW ATTEND
Underattended "Run for Water" plagued by death, zombies, and dozens of "Dow
spokesmen"; truth seems to run free 

Video: Yes Men video coming <http://www.theyesmen.org/dowliveearth#video>
soon here; other video here <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL0w9id9hUA> 
Stills: Yes Men pictures coming soon here
<http://www.theyesmen.org/dowliveearth#stills> ; numerous others here
<http://bhopal.shutterfly.com/968> 
Contact: Whitney Black (803)466-3786; press at theyesmen.org

Brooklyn, NY -- Bucolic Prospect park in Brooklyn, NY played host to a
bizarre spectacle on Sunday, as a dramatically under-attended Dow-sponsored
<http://www.dow.com/runforwater/index.htm>  "Run for Water" was infiltrated
and turned upside down by hundreds of furious activists
<http://bhopal.shutterfly.com/968#972> , including a hundred dressed as Dow
spokespeople. 

New Yorkers who came to the park expecting a light run followed by a free
concert found themselves unwitting extras in a macabre and
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sL0w9id9hUA>  chaotic scene as runners
keeled over dead <http://bhopal.shutterfly.com/968#967> , Dow-branded grim
reapers <http://bhopal.shutterfly.com/968#955>  chased
<http://bhopal.shutterfly.com/968#969>  participants, and a hundred
<http://www.babelgum.com/yesmen>  fake Dow representatives harangued other
protesters and and handed out literature
<http://wompedy.com/the_yes_men/dow/dow_brochure_final_v2.1.pdf>  that
explained Dow's greenwashing program in frank detail. 

The actions called attention to Dow's toxic legacy
<http://www.thetruthaboutdow.org/>  in places like India (the Bhopal
Catastrophe <http://bhopal.net/catastrophe.html> ), Vietnam (Agent Orange
<http://www.vn-agentorange.org/> ) and Midland Michigan (Dioxin
<http://www.trwnews.net/>  Contamination), and to the absurdity of a company
with serious water issues all over the world sponsoring the Live Earth Run
For Water
<http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/gore-takes-cash-for-water-
campaign-from-chemical-firm-1947723.html> . 

After race cancellations
<http://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/content/hackney/gazette/news/story.aspx?bra
nd=HKYGOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newshkyg&itemid=W
eED13%20Apr%202010%2017%3A23%3A53%3A917>  in London, Milan, Berlin, and
Sweden, on-site Dow brand managers were in damage-control mode. But their
job was made harder by the hundred fake "Dow" spokespeople who loudly but
clumsily proclaimed Dow's position ("Our race! Our earth!" and "Run for
water! Run for your life!"), spoke with many runners, screamed at the other
protesters, passed out beautifully-produced literature
<http://wompedy.com/the_yes_men/dow/dow_brochure_final_v2.1.pdf> , and all
in all looked a whole lot better than the real Dow reps, who seemed eager to
make themselves scarce. 

"I don't know what's going on here," said Tracey Von Sloop, a Queens woman
who attended the race. "All I know is these people are both crazy, and Dow
is f*ing sick. I'm outta here." 

The event was the latest blow to Dow's greenwashing efforts, the most
visible element of which is the  <http://www.dow.com/hu/> "Human Element"
multi-media advertising campaign, one of the most expensive, and successful,
marketing efforts in recent history. It even won an
<http://news.dow.com/dow_news/awards/2008/reputation/20080612a.htm> "Effie
Award" for the most effective corporate advertising campaign in North
America. 

"Effective," perhaps -- but also completely misleading. To name just a few
<http://www.bhopal.net/worldmap/>  examples of Dow's water-related issues:
Dow refuses to clean up the groundwater in Bhopal, India
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/01/bhopal-chemical-studies-toxic-l
evels> , site of the largest industrial disaster in human history, committed
by Dow's fully-owned subsidiary, Union Carbide. As a result, children
continue to be born there with debilitating birth defects. Dow has also
dumped hundreds of millions of pounds of toxic chemical byproducts into
wetlands of Louisiana
<http://bhopal.net/petition/application/views/plaquemine_more.html> , and
has even poisoned its own backyard
<http://bhopal.net/petition/application/views/midland_more.html> , leaving
record levels of dioxins downriver from its global headquarters in Midland,
Michigan. 

"We thought it must be a joke when we first heard that Dow Chemical Company
was sponsoring a run for clean water," said Yes Woman Whitney Black. "Sadly,
it was not. One of the world's worst polluters trying to greenwash its image
instead of taking responsibility for drinking water and ecosystems it has
poisoned around the world? What an awfully unfunny way to start off Earth
Week. We decided the event needed a little comic relief." 

Irony was piled on irony throughout the race, which Dow absurdly
<http://www.dow.com/runforwater/index.htm>  claimed was going to be "the
largest solutions-based initiative aimed at solving the global water crisis
in history. At one point, organizers were caught on tape
<http://www.babelgum.com/yesmen>  dramatically throwing
<http://www.theyesmen.org/dowliveearth#cups>  out excess water left over
because of an embarrassingly low turnout. 

Groups organizing the action included the Center for Health, Environment and
Justice <http://www.chej.org/> , the International Campaign for Justice
<http://www.icjb.org/>  in Bhopal, New York Whale and Dolphin Action League,
the Vietnam Agent Orange <http://www.vn-agentorange.org/>  Relief and
Responsibility Campaign, the Wetlands Activism
<http://wetlands-preserve.org/>  Collective, Global Justice for Animals and
the Environment, Kids For A Better Future <http://69.72.169.139/news.lasso>
, The Yes Men <http://www.theyesmen.org/> , and hundreds of assorted
volunteers, activists and mischief makers. 

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