Social activism, served best with a side of laughter?

It's been almost a year since the Yes Men launched the Yes Lab, an organization devoted to helping activist groups carry out media-getting creative actions. The Yes Men, Igor Vamos and Jacques Servin (also known as Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno,) are culture-jamming activists who have been creating actions since 1999. Their work focuses on creating parody and involves the impersonation of famous figures or creation of bogus media campaigns. As Paul Kuttner, author of the blog Cultural Organizing, said last year in anticipation about the launch Yes Lab, “organizing and activism could be a lot funnier.”(1)Although delivered with humor, the issues that Yes Lab addresses are far from laughing matters. Earlier this year they caused a stir when they launched the website arcticready.com and the Let's Go! Mercy Poll, a mock poll that encourages users to vote for which arctic species deserves extra protection from the US government's "incidental harassment authorization" that was granted to Shell. The site also features Social Media ads and a game just for kids, Angry Bergs.Another of Yes Lab's projects included "Three Strikes, You're In!," targeting the New York Police Department and McDonald's. The campaign offered free Happy Meals™ to anyone stopped and frisked three times without charge or summons to compensate victims of the NYPD's racist and abusive "stop and frisk" policy. They created a parody website and video (no longer available for viewing) which mimicked the official NYPD website along with the mock coupon to be brought in to claim their meal. According to Terry Malloy, author of the press release, McDonald's was included because they have made millions off of serving low nourishment food to African-American communities. (2)Last week Yes Lab posted about Shell again, with "Murder is Bad. Even in Nigeria." The article is about Shell's attempt to block employees access to the activist website, Murder  is Bad, created by People Against Legalized Murder (PALM). The site's goal is to let people know about Shell's involvement in murders in Nigeria, and their actions to cover it up, including the recent court case, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum.What do you think, is a social message best served with laughter? Are there any risks involved when creating mock campaigns that are often mistaken for being real?You can read about 5 more protests that shook the world with laughter at Yes Magazine.Notes:(1) http://culturalorganizing.org/?p=316(2) http://www.businessinsider.com/365black-mcdonalds-nypd-frisking-3-strikes-youre-in-2012-3#ixzz28zlvjxxu Sources:http://yeslab.org/http://theyesmen.org/http://murderisbad.com/http://culturalorganizing.org/?p=316http://www.businessinsider.com/365black-mcdonalds-nypd-frisking-3-strikes-youre-in-2012-3http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/beyond-prisons/5-protests-that-shook-the-world-with-laughter