Woke clothing brand The North Face offers customers 20% off – but only if they complete ‘racial inclusion’ course
WOKE bosses at clothes brand The North Face are offering customers a 20 per cent discount — but only if they complete a “racial inclusion” course.
The outdoors goods retailer launched the online programme last month for a “more equitable” countryside.
To get the voucher, participants must correctly answer a multiple-choice quiz at the end of all four modules, including subjects such as “white privilege”.
But Free Speech Union founder Toby Young said: “The irony is that The North Face is implicitly acknowledging here that all its customers are white.
“After all, why would black customers need to take a course about ‘white privilege’ to get a 20 per cent discount? But if all customers are white, shouldn’t it be examining the beam in its own eye?”
The US firm says the Allyship in the Outdoors programme helps customers to “build awareness and knowledge of people of colour in the outdoors” and “understand barriers and challenges by listening to lived experiences”.
One segment in the hour-long course asks: “How many people of colour do you see on the slopes, on the hills or on the trails?”
It says the “dial” of inclusion “moved further when George Floyd was murdered by the police in Minneapolis”.
It adds that the 2020 killing “fostered a new awakening in the outdoors that racial inclusion and representation matters.” Another segment claims: “Privilege can give us access to the outdoors.
“In this context, we refer to ‘white privilege’ meaning that your race and skin colour can give you access to the outdoors when others can be excluded because of historic, enduring racism and biases.”
The programme also instructs customers to raise complaints with their own managers if colleagues call them “woke”.
The North Face was contacted for comment.