Issue and Opponent: Chevron had piled up a long list of environmental and human rights abuses in Ecuador. The pollution and abuses were so extensive that Chevron had been fighting an $18 billion lawsuit in the country over the actions of their subsidiary called Texaco. Nearly 30,000 Ecuadorian plaintiffs were suing Chevron for allegedly pouring billions of gallons of toxic waste into the rainforest.
Dilemma Action: In efforts to raise public awareness and outrage against Chevron, the Yes Men teamed up with the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). Together, they gained insider information on Chevron’s new ad campaign called “We Agree.” The activists succeeded in preempting Chevron’s multimillion-dollar ad campaign by producing and releasing their satirical version before Chevron launched theirs. The fake ad campaign claimed that Chevron agreed that oil companies should clean up their messes and fix the problem they create. Chevron’s real “We Agree” campaign featured only videos of people expressing what they thought the oil company should do with Chevron agreeing to their statements.
Outcomes: The media erroneously picked up the fake ad campaign as authentic for some time. Through several efforts, such as another fake press release and a website where participants could submit their ads to further satirize Chevron’s greenwashing, Chevron’s PR strategy ultimately backfired. Chevron, however, decried the hoax stating that their ad campaign was meant to identify and highlight common ground on key energy issues. After declaring that the false ads were not affiliated with Chevron, they called the ads “environmentalist subterfuge.” Chevron’s top lawyer stated, “Such actions can never be tolerated.” The goal of the action was to spread public outrage against Chevron, which the action did. However, it has not effected any change.