The Yes Men register gatt.org

1999

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno built a parody World Trade Organization site at gatt.org, closely imitating the real WTO's design. Because it read as official, organisers began sending genuine invitations to speak at conferences and on television, which the pair accepted in character. The accidental invitations turned a website parody into years of impersonation performances and defined the group's method. The impersonations were not planned. The site was built as satire and the speaking invitations arrived unsolicited because organisers mistook it for the real WTO.