brilliant prank, with a very clever message

this stunt was reported by reuters and published in the 7th july 2007 issue of new scientist.
It was pulled by a group of political activists called the yes men who describe their work as "exposing, perhaps deviously, the nastiness of powerful evildoers" by taking part in "identity correction".

basically, two guys from the yes men posed as representatives from ExxonMobil and the U.S. National Petroleum Council, at the Gas and Oil Exposition – aka GO-EXPO 2007 – in Calgary.

they had a keynote speech on the programme and promptly proceeded to reveal a new fuel called "vivoleum" which was "to be used in the event of a global climate calamity and made by transforming the billions of people who die into oil.”

sounds a little sick i know but it could be a valuable option in the event of a nuclear holocaust or similar catastrophe - well here comes the clever bit of their prank.

one of the the yes men, “Shepard Wolff” (aka Andy Bichlbaum) began to explain the process of turning living beings into fuel using 3-d animations and powerpoint slides. he stated “we need something like whales, but infinitely more abundant.”

now here's the very clever bit:

“vivoleum works in perfect synergy with the continued expansion of fossil fuel production,” noted the supposed Exxon rep “Florian Osenberg” (aka Mike Bonanno, another member of the yes men). “with more fossil fuels comes a greater chance of disaster, but that means more feedstock for vivoleum. fuel will continue to flow for those of us left.”

i just love the smell of irony in the morning, smells like victory!

ps. read about the rest of the prank at reuters, including how they gave delegates at the conference a candle made from the "by-products" of the production of vivoleum.