The first thing that arrived was the news that Enron was back.
Yes, Enron. It's an energy company whose profits were built on a long period of fraud that ultimately led the energy company to file for the largest bankruptcy in history in 2001.
Last month, people started taking note of Enron's seemingly reborn website, which uses the same logo and branding and announces an ambitious mission to “solve the global energy crisis.”
And on Monday, the new Enron arrived with a flashy marketing video announcing its new Enron Egg, which the company declared to be “the world's first suburban residential micronuclear reactor.”
what? Was Enron, a company synonymous with corporate fraud, really trying to put nuclear reactors into homes around the world?
As you might have guessed, the answer is no. This announcement, and indeed Enron's own unexpected return, was part of an elaborate stunt.
The first sign of parody is in the identity of the company's “chief executive officer.” Connor Gaydos, 28, is best known as one of the authors of the satirical conspiracy theory Birds Are Not Real. The campaign featured billboards, videos and a book co-authored by Gaydos, promoting the theory that the birds were actually replicas of drones designed to spy on Americans.
The book describes this case as follows: You haven't, right? He added: “Right now, there are millions of adult pigeons in New York, but you don't see any baby pigeons. That's because they come out of the factory as adults.”
As Gaydos told The New York Times in 2021, “If there are people who believe that birds aren't real, we're not their concern, because there's no conspiracy they don't believe in. Body”.
Still, Mr. Gaydos remains at least a little committed to Enron. I spoke to him on Thursday, and it sounded almost incredulous when he said, “I truly believe that Enron is one of America's top brands, along with Coca-Cola, Nike, and Levi's.” It was seriousness. At least I want to.
“Before the fiasco, there was a great legacy,” he says.
Mr. Gaydos purchased the Enron trademark for $275. At first glance, Enron appears to be one of the least likely trademarks in history to revive. In the late 1990s, the energy company was a huge success, with annual revenues of more than $100 billion and plenty of influence in Washington.
But it turns out that those gains were built on the sands of loophole abuse, money transfers, and false reporting. The executives were found guilty. The company is gone.
Until now, yes. of seeds.
“We hear a lot about what happened and how bad it was,” Gaydos said of Enron's previous life. “I'm not making excuses, but I think he deserves a second chance at this point.”
In general, the “reborn” Enron, as it (already) declares on its website to be “the world's leading company”, is not strong in humility.
At this week's big product launch, which the company shared on social media, Gaydos took to the stage dressed and sounding a little like Steve Jobs. He claimed to have “harnessed the power of the atom” and introduced the Enron egg, which he claimed could power homes for up to 10 years.
As he unveiled a large egg emblazoned with the Enron logo, flashy graphics resembling a typical Silicon Valley presentation appeared on a screen behind him. He promised to revolutionize not only the “power industry” but also “independent industry” and “free industry.”
Those who still thought the product was real might have stopped even further when they were told that the main ingredient was something called “enronium ore.”
“Enronium is just a fun way to rename a mineral that's already in the zeitgeist,” Gaydos said in an interview.
The wild talk continued even after Mr. Gaydos introduced Enron's chief technology officer, Daniel Wong. Wong reassured nervous observers that the eggs contained only 20% enriched uranium, “too low to make nuclear weapons.” In reality, 20 percent is the limit at which uranium can be used in a bomb.
“The nuclear egg is 100 percent real,” Gaydos insisted in an interview. He vowed, improbably, to have it on the market “by the end of the first quarter.”
(In a final sure sign that the New Enron is satirical, its website states, “The information on the website is First Amendment-protected parody, represents performance art, and is not intended for entertainment. There is a huge “Terms of Use'' that includes the sentence “Provided for this purpose''. “)
The company also sells calculators, earphones, sunglasses, “human dog tags,” pens, tote bags, cookie cutters, paper plates, polo shirts, golf tees, dolls, and — for some reason — fruit drinks and punch. There are also cryptocurrency services, but some are wondering about the perceived value and safety of a coin called Enron.
In the interview, Gaydos compared himself to the Biblical figure Noah and President-elect Donald J. Trump.
“It's like Napoleon,” he said. “I find a French crown in the gutter, pick it up, wash it, and put it on my head. In many ways, I think that's what I do.”
