Submitted by Alex Case:

US Chamber Files Suit Against ‘Yes Men’ For Fake Briefing
By Ian Talley
Wall Street Journal
October 26, 2009

Washington (Dow Jones)–The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday filed a civil suit in a federal court against the group called the “Yes Men” for a fake press briefing the group held last week at the National Press Club.

The Chamber alleges in the complaint the Yes Men used its copyrighted emblem for a fraudulent press release, conference and Web site, in violation of trademark law.

Acting as representatives of the Chamber, the group falsely said the Chamber had switched its position on climate change policy. The group has claimed responsibility for a raft of public hoaxes on other companies in recent years. Following the stunt, the Yes Men launched for theatrical release in the U.S. a movie about their exploits.

The chamber said the lawsuit was filed after lawyers representing the “Yes Men” refused to decommission the fraudulent Web site, “another bold attempt to increase sales of merchandise and tickets to their new movie.” (more…)

Submitted by Wil Welsh: [The Rush Limbaugh video mentioned is at the end of this post]

Shocker for conservatives: Obama may not hate the Constitution
by Alex Koppelman
Salon.com
October 23, 2009

The right, including Rush Limbaugh, falls for a hoax about the president’s college thesis

On Friday, it seemed for a moment — at least to Rush Limbaugh’s listeners — that the right had finally found the smoking gun to prove that President Obama secretly hates the U.S., its founders and even the Constitution.

Limbaugh read his radio audience an excerpt from what he said was Obama’s senior thesis, which he wrote while at Columbia University. After more than a year shrouded in secrecy by the Obama campaign and a compliant media, the thesis had finally emerged, and it was even worse than some had feared.

The excerpt read by Limbaugh:

[T]he Constitution allows for many things, but what it does not allow is the most revealing. The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned. While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy.

Limbaugh was, naturally, up in arms about this, calling the college-aged Obama a “little boy,” and saying, “he still shares those same feelings.” (more…)

From ArtFagCity.com, May 12, 2009:

Blog Buzz or Art News? Jonah Peretti Punks Ashton Kutcher

The Internet is a buzz! Jonah Peretti punks Ashton Kutcher by pretending to be an outraged twitter fan who didn’t have one of his tweets returned, and Kutcher calls him to discuss the matter. The prank follows a lineage of previous like minded Peretti works — blackpeopleloveus.com, a satirical website dedicated to assuaging white guilt, the nike sweatshop emails, a series of correspondence in which Peretti debates with an anonymous Nike representative over why the company couldn’t fill his request to print “sweatshop” custom Nike iD sneakers, and the Rejection Hot Line, a phone number leading to recorded multiple choice rejection options. Each employs entertainment as a means of engaging audiences.

Peretti’s latest viral project piques AFC interest because unlike his days at Eyebeam, when such “pieces” were labeled “art”, the press now describes the Kutcher punk as a “prank”. Are we simply looking at a shift in semantics due to a change in professional fields, or is this shift indicative of the shrinking distinction between art and everything else? (more…)

J.G. Ballard “Obituary”
by V. Vale
researchpubs.com
April 19, 2009

I particularly hate it when “rebels” die – there are already so few of them/us. Sometimes it seems like virtually everyone you meet these days in the world is a slave to the profit motive/capitalist imperative: “What’s the meaning of life?” “To make money!” J.G. Ballard, and another of my relatively recently deceased role models, W.S. Burroughs, both refused to prostitute their writing, and they both refused to shmooze and “network” merely to further their “careers.” Both had a hatred of bourgeois hypocrisy and phony politeness, while at the same time being deeply polite and courteous, almost to a fault …

But for now, let us think of ways to publicly mourn one of the greatest thinkers and poets of the past century. (more…)

From Adbusters, April 10, 2009:

Adbusters Wins a Legal Victory Against Canada’s Media Giants, Legal Action in the US May Be Next

After 15 years of legal tussling to bring democracy to the public airwaves, Adbusters has finally scored a great victory. The Supreme Court of British Columbia has granted us an appeal in our landmark case against Canada’s CBC and Canwest Global, giving us the go-ahead to set a precedent and establish some public rights over the airwaves (check out the judges’ ruling here). (more…)

Update, April 4, 2009, from AP:

From Urbanprankster.com, April 2, 2009:

World Pillow Fight Day is Saturday [April 4, 2009]. Check out their site for a list of cities participating around the world. The New York event, organized by Newmindspace, has added a “no feathers” policy. This sounds like a good idea after the recent hubbub in San Francisco.

German police try to determine if they were duped
by Vanessa Gera
1010WINS
March 13, 2009

Winnenden, Germany (AP) — German police worked with U.S. authorities Friday to determine if they had fallen victim to an Internet hoax as they investigate a school shooting in southern Germany that killed 15 people.

Tim Kretschmer, 17, gunned down students at his former high school in Winnenden Wednesday before fleeing on foot and by car, killing three more people, and eventually turning a 9-millimeter Beretta pistol on himself.

Investigators said Thursday that Kretschmer had posted his intentions in an Internet chat room only hours beforehand, but they now say they have serious doubts about the authenticity of the posting.

Police spokeswoman Brigitte Wahl said Friday that investigators were working with officials in the United States, where the servers that host the German-language Web site are located, but did not expect to clear up the mystery quickly.

“It could take a while,” she said.

Police said they were alerted to the purported Internet threat after the attack, and released a transcript of the chat at a news conference. But later in the day, after the site itself claimed the posting was fraudulent, they searched Kretschmer’s computer and found no trace of it in the computer’s history, police spokesman Klaus Hinderer said.

Police, meanwhile, said the spotlight inspired copycat threats that sprang up in at least three towns on Friday morning. (more…)

Editor’s Note: W.J. Elvin III’s LiteratEye column about literary hoaxes is featured here, and only here, every Friday. This is a LiteratEye Extra:

News Analysis: China’s Prank Thwarts ‘Theft of Culture’
by W.J. Elvin III, March 3, 2009

Do pranks have a role in repairing theft of culture? Apparently the Chinese think so. Quite often, theft of culture refers to items captured by a conquering army, so-called “spoils of war,” sometimes excused as “war souvenirs.” There are many other ways items of cultural significance are liberated from their proper homes including outright theft, sale by someone who has no right to sell, and treasure hunting (sometimes in the respectable guise of archaeology), to name a few.

Examples could be drawn from the world over (see More nations demanding return of relics, from Business Inquirer) but this particular case is from China, formerly a huge shopping mart for collectors and now trying to reclaim some historic cultural items it considers plundered. When two extraordinarily valuable Chinese bronzes went up for auction the other day, the high bidder at nearly $40-million, a Chinese government official, then refused to pay. (more…)

For the past several years a profusion of media hoaxes have spread in France and all over the World. Until recently, very little academic research had been conducted on the subject and no one had really portrayed a global perspective. In December 2006, a very elaborate hoax perpetrated by a public TV channel in Belgium brought the process to light and generated much interest among media and social researchers. Techniques developed by media hoaxers have become so highly sophisticated that this unconventional practice has become a fertile field for social research and a path to understanding the complex relationship between the media and their audiences. Dating back to the 18th century, having evolved along with the first mass media publications, hoaxes were considered worthless and vulgar jokes with malicious or humorous intent. During the last decades, the humor persists as one dimension of hoaxes. However, it appears that more and more people have become aware of the hoax as a new dimension of social criticism, which includes political protest and, of course, media subversion.

We will take the opportunity of Joey Skaggs’ visit to Europe – on the occasion of his participation in a conference hosted in Karlsruhe (Germany) by the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie – to explore and analyze the protest movement against mass-media known as «culture jamming» which has developed during the last 40 years in the United States of America. With his lifetime work on the cutting edge of art and activism, Joey Skaggs is a pioneer of this cultural movement and is still active today.

For more information, contact André Gattolin

French Version, including the schedule for the day: (more…)

From André Gattolin:

François Caradec, French post-dadaïst writer, died Thursday, November 13, 2008 in Paris. He was 84 and was renowned as one of the best specialists of French marginal and creative literature of the 19th and the early 20th century. He was a connoisseur of Alphonse Allais (one of the first French literary hoaxers), Alfred Jarry, Isidore Ducasse de Lautréamont and Raymond “Crazy” Roussel.

A close friend of many surrealist writers, Caradec was also Regent of the Pataphysic College and part of the “Ouvroir de littérature potentielle” (Oulipo) created by Georges Pérec.

In 1964, he published (with his accomplice Alain Arnaud) one of the most relevant encyclopedias ever written on pranks, pratical jokes and hoaxes called Dictionnaire des farces et attrapes.

I unfortunately never met him but I had the wonderful chance, two years ago, to review a copy of this very rare and marvellous book…

If heaven really exists, its inhabitants will, from now on, have to face Caradec’s pranks for eternity!

Here’s his obituary from Le Monde: (more…)

The Eisenstadt Hoax: A Real-life Example of a “Fake Fake”
by Sheldon Rampton
Center for Media and Democracy, PRWatch.org
November 14, 2008

The hoax in this case is Eisenstadt’s claim that he was the source for Carl Cameron’s report on Fox News. Cameron never spoke to Eisenstadt and did not use Eisenstadt as the basis for his reporting.

Topics:
There is a minor controversy bouncing around right now on the internet, and I’d like to do what I can to set the story straight. The controversy involves two incidents:

1. The day after the U.S. presidential election, Fox News reporter Carl Cameron gave an interview with Fox commentator Bill O’Reilly. During the interview, Cameron said that McCain’s advisors had told him about their unhappiness with Sarah Palin as a vice-presidential running mate. Citing anonymous sources within the McCain campaign, Cameron recited a litany of complaints, including their claim that Palin was so ignorant she didn’t know Africa was a continent.

2. A blogger who calls himself “Martin Eisenstadt” stated a few days ago that he was the anonymous source for Cameron’s story. Earlier today, however, the New York Times reported that “Martin Eisenstadt doesn’t exist. His blog does, but it’s a put-on. The think tank where he is a senior fellow — the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy — is just a Web site. The TV clips of him on YouTube are fakes. And the claim of credit for the Africa anecdote is just the latest ruse by Eisenstadt, who turns out to be a very elaborate hoax that has been going on for months.” (more…)

ArtofthePrank.com Editor Joey Skaggs will speak on Pataphysics: The Science of Imaginary Solutions at the Caeno Foundation’s Conference, What Was Old is New Again at ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Here’s a description of his presentation:
Pataphysics: The Science of Imaginary Solutions

What lies beyond metaphysics? A great deal for Alfred Jarry (1873-1909), a playwright and culture jammer who coined the term Pataphysics. It is a philosophy that takes in everything written and everything sung and everything done, and like metaphysics has the virtue of meaning whatever you want it to mean.

Pataphysics offers a voyage of discovery and adventure into realms where philosophers seldom venture, including art, activism, and onto the street. Dada, Futurism, Surrealism acknowledged the influence of Pataphysics, and nowadays the tradition is carried on by US-based ensembles Act-up/New York, Billboard Liberation Front, Yes Men, Cacophony Society, Negativeland, Improv Everywhere, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping. The biting satire of their parodies and absurd theater make effective social commentary

For information about registration and attendance, visit here. For further information, contact the conference organizers at newagain@caeno.org.

From Murray State University Press Release, September 12, 2008:

Joey Skaggs, one of “the most prolific independent media satirists in America today,” to work with students in workshops focusing on the media’s changing landscape and to speak to public about media manipulation.

From Wayne Zebzda:

Hats off to George Carlin who died today. As he said…

“I think it is the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately.”

photo: nj.com

Related Stories:

Submitted by Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere:

Today we’re proud to announce the launch of a new blog, Urban Prankster. Urban Prankster will feature pranks, hacks, participatory art, flash mobs, and other creative endeavors that take place in public places in cities across the world. If someone does something awesome in the public space, we plan to cover it.

Over the last six months we’ve seen a massive spread of urban creativity in cities across the world. We’ve been covering the global trend on Improv Everywhere, focusing on groups that formed on our Improv Everywhere Global network. It’s been awesome to see groups recreating our past missions and coming up with new ideas of their own. With missions happening in other cities on an almost weekly basis, we decided it was time to create a new site to celebrate this work. (more…)