Wikipedia vs The North Face
The brand has replaced the photos on Wikipedia with its own product placement photos
May 30th, 2019
Quite unexpectly the clash that's going down in these hours is the one between The North Face and Wikipedia. The sportswear brand has in fact voluntarily violated the terms of service of the site to increase its popularity.
A few days ago The North Face, in collaboration with the Brazilian branch of the advertising agency Leo Burnett, made an advertising video boasting that it had done "what no one had ever done before", that's to say replacing images of Wikipedia articles with others that contained products with the North Face logo. More specifically, the brand has swapped 12 photos, including those of the Guarita National Park and the Cape Peninsula, both in Brazil, with its own product placement shots. The action was furthermore highlighted by boasting the brand's ability to be able to advertise themselves without paying anything, but “just by collaborating with Wikipedia”. The aim of the company was obviously to bring their products at the top of Google's search.
Thanks to this braggadocio video and your article we've now removed the product-placement from all article. The user accounts behind the edits have been reported for breaching the Terms of User for undisclosed paid advocacy. https://t.co/XFODUri5sF For shame @TheNorthFace.
— Liam Wyatt (@Wittylama) 28 maggio 2019
“When The North Face exploits the trust you have in Wikipedia to sell you more clothes, you should be angry. Adding content that is solely for commercial promotion goes directly against the policies, purpose and mission of Wikipedia to provide neutral, fact-based knowledge to the world.”
Shortly afterwards, the brand's apology reply also arrived:
“We believe deeply in Wikipedia’s mission and integrity – and apologise for engaging in activity inconsistent with those principles. Effective immediately, we have ended the campaign and moving forward, we’ll strive to do better and commit to ensuring that our teams and vendors are better trained on Wikipedia’s site policies.”
Whatever you think of The North Face's advertising move, the company has, at least in part, achieved its goal by catalysing attention to itself.