North Face Advertising

“What is madness?” The dictionary defines it as a state of insanity or lunacy. A recent North Face campaign, which celebrates the brand existing for fifty years, explores this question (see figure 1). The advertisement consists of a compilation of videos that showcases athletes outdoors participating in adrenaline fueled activities. The campaign truly takes the brand North Face back to its roots and emphasizes the idea that their equipment remains verified by athletes and confirmed through expeditions. The advertisement prompts people to question why others choose to engage in activities that present such extreme risks. The commercial answers this question through the company’s mantra “never stop exploring.” This ideal forces people to challenge

At the beginning of the advertisement many of the images appear rather gruesome. They display athletes falling from the mountain, suffering from frostbite, experiencing hospitalization, covered in bandages, facing strong winds, and other harmful conditions (see figure 2). Athletes themselves capture the snippets of film featured in the advertisement resulting in the videos having a very authentic and raw feel. However, part way through the advertisement the mood shifts and most of the video clips express cheerfulness. People joyously high-five, knuckle bump, laugh, and cheer together. At this point the people no longer struggle to reach the top of the mountain they have arrived and feel ecstatic. Although reaching their goals causes their happiness the North Face advertisement stresses the importance of the journey and not just the end the result. The company emphasizes the notion of experiencing things and the important role this plays in making new discoveries. Although, the advertisement features people encountering different challenges, it blatantly ignores diversity and appeals only to a small demographic. Throughout the entirety of the commercial, most of the people fall into the category of young, fit, Caucasian individuals. This campaign strategy reveals that North Face targets their main consumers by not featuring a wide variety of people.

The presence of the audio in the advertisement develops the mood while encouraging the desire for adventure. As the advertisement begins a person voices, “it is weird having a ton of people question your motivations… questioning your sanity.” Many of the athletes shown in this commercial face an abundance of adversity since they challenge the limits that society places. North Face challenges people to continue to go beyond the limits to find new paths forward and they strive to provide adequate equipment for people to do this. The next voice clip displays a woman climbing a mountain and as she falls she desperately bellows “I can’t do this!” North Face expresses that even though struggles may challenge people and prevent them from reaching their goals, people can achieve all ambitions through perseverance. Often accepting defeat on a goal appears easier than achieving it, but North Face inspires their consumers to accept the challenge and achieve their greatest aspirations. The next audio clip embodies this as a person enthusiastically shouts, “this is amazing!” This proves that often when someone experiences excessive struggles along with a challenging journey they will attain the greatest reward. The background noises emphasize the idea that every achievement required a journey to get there. Furthermore, the advertisement creators selected the song “Miles from