The timing couldn’t have been much worse.
UK outdoor enthusiasts have been reacting on social media with a mixture of anger and disbelief to an Instagram image shared by The North Face showing a person bivvying near an open fire on a Scottish summit.
The post was shared and also promoted as a sponsored post by the U.S. brand during a week that’s seen vicious wildfires in Snowdonia and the Scottish Highlands. Virtually the whole of Mynydd Mawr near Beddgelert has been ablaze over the last few days, while firefighters were called to a 1km-long fire on Ben Lomond, one of Scotland’s most popular mountains. So far, the cause of each fire remains unknown.
One user on Twitter who works for the Lake District National Park asked The North Face to “please consider the impacts of normalising the construction and lighting of fires in the landscape.”
“This is so off the mark,” wrote another user. “Be a positive influence and promote Leave No Trace rather than slick marketing images.”
The image, it appears, was not captured by The North Face and was only re-shared by their social media team. It has now been deleted following the backlash overnight.
