Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/05/30/the-north-face-boasts-of-defac.html
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I think Scientology tried that back in the day. Practically any kind of abuse on the Internet, they went there first.
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Search on “north face sweatshops”
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Christ what an asshole
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Any press is good press, amirite? Now people are talking about this company. It’s more important to be controversial than to be good.
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If they uploaded the images to Wikipedia, does that mean they made their pictures available under a license (GFDL, Creative Commons, public domain, etc.) that allows anyone else to use them without asking The North Face for permission? Sounds like they made part of their marketing material (which they likely paid for) free for anyone to use for whatever purpose they want as long as that person complies with the Wikipedia license.
If an ad company provided them with those photos, might they have breached their contract with that ad company? The ad company may have provided them with the right to use those images in their own advertising but I suspect they didn’t give TNF the right to release them under a different license.
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There was a rather sophisticated Zionist conspiracy too, which involved people working for months on editing uncontroversial subjects to build up credibility and getting promoted and only then starting to edit pages relevant to Israel. Too many people involved, so of course it leaked after a while.
At least North Face can look forward to this campaign being a permanent part of their page on Wikipedia. Messing with an encyclopedia that can retaliate by making sure everyone finds out about your misdeeds is not very clever.
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This was my first thought as well.
If I understand correctly the ad company was in on it, so I don’t think they could sue North Face for breach of contract, but IANAL.
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Buncha jerks. I imagine it was all pitched as being “disruptive.”
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I wouldn’t be surprised if someone in the board room called it “Guerrilla marketing through culture jamming”.
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Once upon a time there was an incredible company that made big wall climbing gear named A5.
Does anyone remember A5 ?
Ah well …
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That’s defacement of public property.
I await a future D- term papers of the future with cited references to ad copy and commercials.
God just fuck North Face already. Fuck them for their sweatshop products at luxury prices. Fuck them for defacing something of actual value with their useless garbage advertising in order to hawk their shitty brand that long since replaced any quality in their products. In the grand scheme of things it’s not that meaningful, but for the love of God stop thinking you are being clever, disruptive marketing jerks. I’m with Hicks on this whole genre of marketing-- you’re not clever, you’re just a bunch of shitty bottom-feeding assholes making the world a worse place because you couldn’t even identify the concept of “value” if you tried.
Sigh
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Fuck North Face and its products. I’m an avid hiker and camper, but from now on if I’m in the market for a sporting item and it has the North Face logo, I’ll choose something else.
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Like some children, corporations will do anything for attention.
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I remember A5 everytime I drive from Turin to Aosta and back.
http://www.sav-a5.it/
A stretch of the unopened motorway was used fot the mini entering the bus scenes.
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This media file is missing evidence of permission.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:The_North_Face_Wikipedia_advertising_campaign
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or “Spy Huunter” as it was called in England.
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