The review evaluates Ian Reilly’s analysis of Yes Men hoaxes as a means of calling attention to corporate greed and abuses of power as well as a new mode of political engagement that entails from utopian dispositions the reformist aspirations to nudge society towards a better version of itself. It emphasizes the innovative approach for of The Yes Men to “sharpening a political critique” and coupling it with doing politics differently. It highlights Reilly’s findings of the dependency of hoaxes’ success on contextual factors and encourages future studies to capitalize on Reilly’s work to develop an account of the “ecosystem” in which media hoaxes circulate.
Articles by Natalia Kovalyova
Natalia Kovalyova is master's student at the iSchool at UT Austin studying the relationships between discourse and power in a variety of contexts. Her most recent research focuses on the enduring patterns of control over public memory, group identities, and knowledge making in cultural heritage institutions. She is a member of the National Communication Association, Rhetoric Society of America, and the Society of American Archivists.