That time North Face committed Wikipedia identity theft

"You know that feeling when you catch someone else making the exact mistake you were about to make?"

During my agency days, I was sat in a WeWork, deep in research about Wikipedia backlinks for a client (forgive me, I was naive…), when the North Face story hit my SEO news radar.

From across the open office, I heard fragments of conversation about identity theft and Wikipedia. I thought nothing of it at the time and went to the free kitchen to stock up on my daily rations of custard creams. IYKYK. (Anyone else just raid the WeWork kitchens like a raccoon?)

The story was wild: North Face and their Brazilian ad agency, thought they'd cracked the ultimate SEO hack. Instead of trying to rank higher on Google for terms like "best hiking trails" or "adventure destinations," they targeted Wikipedia, knowing it often ranks #1 on search results.

What did they do?
Replace photos on popular Wikipedia travel pages with ones featuring North Face products. Imagine looking up a page for "Guarita State Park" and boom—there's a stunning shot of the park... with a hiker conveniently sporting North Face gear front and center.

Wikipedia's community noticed.

Quickly.

The Wikimedia Foundation called them out for violating their Terms of Use. They publicly shamed The North Face, accusing them of "manipulating one of the world's most trusted sources of information."

The headlines were brutal:
"North Face Tried to Scam Wikipedia for Free Ads"
"Wikipedia Just Embarrassed The North Face"

I closed our Wikipedia backlink research project that afternoon. Sometimes you need to see someone else's fail to avoid your own.

The irony wasn't lost on me though - here was North Face (one of my favourite brands of all time), literally bragging in their campaign video about how they "climbed to the top of Google," only to fall harder than a failed summit attempt.

Why do marketers always ruin everything?

They quickly apologized, blaming the agency for overstepping. But we all know the internet never forgets.

And neither does Wikipedia.

Have a good one. Hope you have a warm jacket for the winter.

Tim

P.S. Still love my North Face gear though. Some marketing fails are too comfy to cancel 😅