US Chamber of Commerce Responds to Yes Men Hoax

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


The US Chamber of Commerce (the real one) issued a response to the fake press conference we reported on earlier, saying they will be “asking law enforcement authorities to investigate this event.”

The “irresponsible tactics” that the Yes Men used “are a foolish distraction from the serious effort by our nation to reduce greenhouse gases,” said Chamber Senior Vice President for Communications and Strategy Thomas J. Collamore said in the statement. “Public relations hoaxes undermine the genuine effort to find solutions on the challenge of climate change,” he added.

“The U.S. Chamber believes that strong climate legislation is compatible with the goals of improving our economy and creating jobs,” he said. “We continuously seek opportunities to engage in a constructive dialogue to achieve these goals.”

It’s not clear exactly what legal course the Chamber can pursue. Copyright infringement, for using their logo? Misrepresentation? Fraud? In any case, the seriousness with which they’re taking the prank far outweighs the seriousness with they’ve taken climate change for all these years—underscoring the point of today’s parody.

Notably, the press release the real Chamber sent out today repeats the claim that the group represents “more than 3 million businesses and organizations,” a figure that Josh Harkinson set straight last week. The Chamber was then forced to correct their number. The fake press release, however, says they have 300,000 members–a figure closer to their real membership total.

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate