Posted on March 10, 2024

The North Face Is Offering Customers 20% Off If They Take a Racial Inclusion Course

Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, March 5, 2024

The North Face was once a simple one-stop shop for hiking gear. But today, having upped its TikTok game, you’re more likely to spot a Gen Z urbanite sporting its puffer jacket than a countryside trekker.

Now, The North Face is aiming for further approval from the socially conscious cohort by offering customers 20% off if they take a racial inclusion course.

The one-hour-long course called ”Allyship in the Outdoors” begins by inviting customers to ask themselves: “How many people of color do you see on the slopes, on the hills, or on the trails?”

Later in the module white customers are told that the great outdoors isn’t so great for people of color.

“Privilege can give us access to the outdoors,” the course explains. “In this particular context we refer to ‘white privilege’ meaning that your race and skin color can give you access to the outdoors when others can be excluded because of historic, enduring racism and biases.”

Through four interactive modules, the course promises “to help you be a better ally and to make the outdoors a safer and more welcoming place for everyone.”

Another portion of the training instructs participants on how to handle accusations of being “too woke” on social media, telling them to file formal complaints to their bosses and “respond to the comment with calm authority, in line with your [organization’s] policy and guidelines on hate speech and racism.”

In the end, those who answer all the multiple-choice questions on allyship, bias, and privilege correctly are rewarded with a handy discount voucher.

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The outdoor clothing giant quietly launched the training program to help foster a “more equitable” countryside, according to the website.

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As The North Face explained in its program, the “dial” of inclusion “moved further when George Floyd was murdered by the police in Minneapolis.”

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Incentivizing inclusion may go down with the progressive youth of today; however, right-wing commentators are calling to boycott the brand on social media using the hashtag #boycottNorthFace.

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