Issue and Opponent: Stop-and-frisk was a policing policy implemented in New York City which allowed law enforcement to temporarily detain citizens for interrogation and search on the street. Stop-and-frisk was first implemented in the late 1990s in response to a staggering rate of murders and violent crime in the city. In the early 2000s, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) were highly criticized for the policy by those who argued that it had effectively legalized racial profiling in New York City. In 2011, 87% of New Yorkers stopped were Black or Latino and only 9% were white. Although as many as 684,330 stops were made in 2012 at the height of the program, most detainees were quickly released without arrest and most arrests did not yield a conviction. The Yes Men activist duo decided to design an action that would draw attention to stop-and-frisk’s racial profiling. As “lactivists”, the Yes Men typically use humor in their activism and operate under the philosophy that lies can expose the truth.
Dilemma Action: On March 6, 2012, the Yes Men launched their satirical program under the name “Three Strikes, You’re In.” Three Strikes, You’re In claimed to be a partnership between Mcdonald’s and the NYPD that would give a free happy meal to any New Yorker who has been stopped and frisked at least three times without being arrested. The Yes Men created and distributed vouchers for the hoax that asked customers to record the officer’s badge number and the location of the stop before presenting the voucher at a Mcdonald’s store. The Yes Men also created a fake press release, a promotional video, and a satirical website to advertise the Three Strikes, You’re In program. The press release and video painted the initiative as a way for McDonalds and the NYPD to give back to New York’s low-income and Black neighborhoods which were disproportionately impacted by stop-and-frisk. The Three Strikes, You’re In program claimed to be part of Mcdonald’s 365 Black initiative, a real Mcdonald’s program which claimed to support the Black community despite contributing to childhood obesity with fast food. By creating a satirical campaign thanking New Yorkers for putting up with the stop-and-frisk policy, the Yes Men drew attention to the systemic injustice facing Black and Latino residents of the city and forced the NYPD and Mcdonald’s to respond.
Outcomes: The Three Strikes, You’re In hoax generated widespread media coverage. After the Mcdonald’s lawyers had the Three Strikes, You’re In website taken down for copyright infringement and the NYPD identified the campaign as fake, the Yes Men were quick to confirm that the campaign had been part of a satirical project. ABC, Bloomberg News, and Business Insider Magazine all reported on the story and the American Civil Liberties Union of New York reached out to the Yes Men about the action. The action was successful in refocusing the city’s attention on the ethics of the stop-and-frisk policy at a time when the policy had already become controversial. Mayor Bill de Blasio later campaigned on a platform of police reform including an end to stop-and-frisk. Although de Blasio took office in 2014, the NYPD continues to practice stop and frisk in a limited capacity as recently as 2020.