Beyond Satire

Media pranksters The Yes Men apologized last week to a member of the legal department of British Petroleum for leaving the satire website for BP in an “execrable half-finished state.” To make up for the incomplete spoof, they created the new www.beyond-petrol.com to rival the other satire sites that expose the “world’s prime malefactors,” including ExxonMobil and Halliburton/KBR. The newly revamped spoof site includes links to real coverage of BP, including its questionable extraction methods, the controversial Energy Biosciences Institute at Berkeley, and charges of environmental crimes and “green-washing.” Although they left the first site incomplete, The Yes Men assert that “BP does every bit as much damage to this planet as does Exxon, Halliburton, or any other more obviously nefarious company, regardless of its carefully engineered professions of decency and concern.” With such a well-executed site, BP may have to do more than change its logo to stay off the Ten Worst Corporations List.

Creative Commons Image courtesy of Vlad Lazerian on Flickr