Dec 3, 2004-2004
United Kingdom
Dow Does the Right Thing (for an hour)
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ACTIVISTS/ACT.GROUPS/DESCRIPTION OF THE GROUP
Yes Men
TARGET
Dow Chemical
WIDELY HELD BELIEF
Dow should be held accountable for the tragedy at Bhopal, India.
CASE NARRATIVE
Issue and opponent: Dow Chemical had not made any reparations to the people of Bhopal, India, after a gas leak disaster in 1984 that contaminated 500,000 and killed more than 3,800.
Dilemma Action: On the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster, Andy Bichlbaum appeared on BBC World as Jude Finisterra after having been contacted through a hoax website designed by the Yes Men. He decided to use the limelight to claim that Dow was going to sell Union Carbide and use the $12 Billion for medical care.
Outcomes: Dow’s stock dropped over 4% in just over 20 minutes. After two hours, Dow released a statement denying the claims, which gave the hoax even greater coverage. Some were concerned that the hoax had given false hope to the people of Bhopal, but accounts suggest that after the hoax was revealed, they remained happy that the story had gotten coverage. There is evidence that after this, Dow hired a private intelligence firm Stratfor to monitor the Yes Men. The Yes Men have an ongoing climate action campaign.
PRIMARY STRUGGLE/GOAL
NONVIOLENT TACTICS USED
DA TACTICS USED
Hoax website
Identity correction
Public illusion
CASE NARRATIVE WRITER
SUCCESS METRICS
10 / 12
(EREP) Dilemma action got replicated by other movements
(MC) Media Coverage
(MSYMP) Media coverage was sympathetic to the activists
(OR) Opponent response
(PS) Dilemma action built sympathy with the public
(PUN) Punishment favored the activists
(REFR) Dilemma action reframed the narrative of the opponent
(RF) Dilemma action reduced fear and/or apathy among the activists
(SA) Dilemma action appealed to a broad segment of the public
Laugtivism
PART OF A LARGER CAMPAIGN
3 / 3
Activist group continued working together after the action
Encouraged more participants to join the movement
Internally replicated by the same movement
RESOURCES
Project documentation
Dilemma Actions Coding Guidebook
Case study documentation
Dilemma_Actions_Analysis_Dataset
SOURCES
The Yes Men. 2004. “Dow does the right thing/ How Dow did right for the people of Bhopal… for an hour,” Retrieved July 22, 2023. (https://theyesmen.org/project/dowbbc/behindthecurtain).
The Yes Men. 2004. Dow does the right thing/
Dow goes where no corporation has gone before (nor ever will)!,” Retrieved July 22, 2023. (https://theyesmen.org/project/dowbbc/press).
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