Patagonia's Alex Weller on branding and protest
Last month, a picture of a clothing label on a product from US outdoor clothing brand Patagonia caused a stir on Twitter. Contrary to the usual news about cleaning and the like, this label had a simple slogan: "Vote the assholes out".
Unsurprisingly, Twitter users immediately asked if the picture could possibly be real before a brand spokesperson confirmed it was and that the special label appeared on just one product, the Stand Up Shorts. It also turned out that the line came directly from Patagonia's owner and founder Yvon Chouinard.
In a US election year, and especially in a year when there is more divisions than ever, one might assume that Chouinard was referring to current US President Donald Trump. However, according to Alex Weller, Director of Marketing for Patagonia in Europe, it wasn't that easy.
"It's not about voting out Donald Trump as many people might think," he said speaking at the Festival of Marketing last week, "and this wasn't even a strategic marketing exercise. This was our product team, that one quote from Yvon, who he said over and over for a long time that all politicians who take money out of fossil fuel interests in order to ignore science and push back environmental policy should be voted out. "
We have a track record, we have the muscle memory if you'd like to make relatively quick decisions based on the context of the moment
As noteworthy as the tag's existence is Weller's revelation that he and his team first heard about it when they saw it for themselves on Twitter. We tend to assume that all brand marketing – especially something as risky as this – goes through several rounds internally before being launched into the world, but apparently Patagonia has a history of reactivity.