- Columbia Sportswear is difficult believers within the flat Earth conspiracy theory to photograph the sting of the world and promising to present away a treasure trove of assets to the primary one who does, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
- In an open letter in The New York Times, Columbia CEO Tim Boyle tasks flat-earthers with venturing out to prove the planet has a definitive end, preferably while wearing the brand’s outdoor gear. Boyle also appears in social videos where he shows off all of the products the “Expedition Impossible” winner can be entitled to.
- In addition, Columbia will dip into Reddit communities and YouTube comments to poke fun at conspiracy theorists. The campaign is supposed to emphasise Columbia’s “daring, irreverent energy,” Boyle explained, and follows a significant brand platform relaunch from August.
Columbia is taking a shot across the bow at conspiracy theorists with “Expedition Impossible,” a tongue-in-cheek tackle social media challenges that asks flat-earthers to seek out the world’s edge and snap an image as proof. Press details emphasize that the “Edge of the Earth” throughout the contest parameters must be a literal drop off point into the infinite void, not only a formidable cliff face on an area hike.
The company is putting assets valued at $100,000 on the road, inclusive of outdoor gear, office plants, mannequins and more. Boyle explains the stakes in humorous social videos where a lawyer intervenes to correct him about what the method for handing off the winnings would entail and employees act befuddled as he tries to showcase all that’s at stake.
“This is a message to Flat Earthers. I’ve seen your manifestos, admired your diagrams, watched you stand proudly in your, well, flat ground. So here’s the deal: it’s time to place your map where your mouth is,” writes Boyle in an open letter running within the Times. “Our gear is built to handle anything. So I’m inviting you to do what nobody in history has ever done: find the sting of the Earth.”
Boyle’s message joins a practice of outdoors brand executives making public statements on topical issues, albeit with a humorous twist. Taking flat-earthers to task could encourage online chatter about Columbia around the important thing holiday shopping period, and the brand will directly inject itself into online communities where farfetched ideas are heatedly discussed. That said, poking the conspiracy theorist bear also risks the potential for backlash from outspoken fringe types.
Conspiracy theories have increasingly bled into the cultural mainstream in an era of social media misinformation and distrust in legacy media. Flat Eartherism, in turn, has seen a twenty first century resurgence, including amongst some celebrities, despite a surfeit of longstanding scientific and photographic evidence that the Earth is, in actual fact, spherical in shape.
“Expedition Impossible” is part of Columbia’s efforts to recommend bolder, conversation-starting marketing following its first brand platform relaunch in a decade. The marketer in August debuted “Engineered for Whatever,” a multiseason ad campaign that uses edgy, over-the-top humor for instance the toughness of its products under extreme conditions.
“Engineered for Whatever” is supposed to serve as a counter to what Columbia views as overly pristine, idyllic outdoors marketing from rivals. Adam&eveDDB is the Portland, Oregon-based brand’s global agency of record and helped develop “Expedition Impossible.”
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