German outdoor company Vaude announced on March 21 that it was leaving the social media platform X with immediate effect. “This is our response to the increasing misinformation, discriminatory and right-wing populist content and the increasingly aggressive style on X – we want to clearly distance ourselves from this,” said Manfred Meindl, Vaude’s Marketing Director.
In view of the super-election year 2024, Vaude expects a further escalation of the tone and content on X in particular, but also on other social channels. Vaude no longer wants to advertise in this environment. The outdoor brand will, therefore, stop all paid advertising on all social networks at the end of the month and focus on other environments.
“We stand up for diversity, fairness and responsibility and take a firm stance against disinformation and discrimination of any kind,” added Meindl. ”We are therefore concerned about the current developments in social channels and do not want to support them financially through advertising revenue. It is also important to us to position our brand in a good and constructive environment that is compatible with our values. In the paid media sector, we as a brand unfortunately have no influence whatsoever on what content our ads are surrounded by, which is why we are completely withdrawing from this area.”
X no longer acceptable
For Vaude – and many others – X is no longer viable since the takeover by entrepreneur Elon Musk (then, the platform was still called Twitter), and a significant increase in the spread of disinformation and the number of discriminatory and anti-democratic posts can be measured. X does not counteract these developments but rather supports them through a lack of moderation, the activation of accounts that spread hate and the simultaneous blocking of critical accounts.
In the meantime, the EU Commission has initiated proceedings against X for “disseminating illegal content.” Numerous companies, media, academic and state institutions have already removed themselves from the platform.
Vaude commits to constructive online discourse
Vaude regrets this development. For many years, the company has been communicating very actively and successfully on all relevant social media channels relevant to the brand and has also built up a strong connection to its communities. Direct dialog and interaction with many people are in line with the Vaude philosophy.
“These channels give us the opportunity to provide very up-to-date and transparent insights into everything that is happening at Vaude,” explained Meindl. ”In view of the global challenges and developments, we are also increasingly using the networks to draw attention to current political and social issues to which we as a company have a connection, such as the climate crisis, diversity or racism. Our focus here is on offering real solutions and refuting the seemingly simple answers spread by right-wing populists and conspiracy ideologues, especially on X, with factual arguments.” In this way, Vaude aims to promote constructive, fact-based dialog on social media. The response has been overwhelming; Vaude has reached more people than ever before with its recent posts against right-wing populism. Vaude itself adheres to strict community guidelines on its social channels.
Vaude will continue to communicate actively via all other social media channels and take a stand: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube. “We would be very happy to see our followers on X on our other channels in the future,” said Meindl. The Vaude channel on X will be shut down and will no longer feature content, but it will not be closed for trademark reasons.
