UPDATE August 24: VanMoof has now deleted the YouTube video referenced in this news story published on August 16, and has also amended the text on its online promotion of the stunt. A revised video has been uploaded and this has been embedded below. A statement from VanMoof can be found at the base of the article.
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Dutch e-bike brand VanMoof released a video on August 16 purporting to show members of the public buying bikes from an actor posing as a thief. I have discovered that everybody taking part in the video knew they could be filmed and that the cash handed over to the “thief” was supplied by VanMoof.
This is an embarrassment for the Dutch startup which earlier this month successfully challenged an American consumer magazine for mistakenly saying it had bypassed the company’s digital on-bike security system. Now VanMoof is at the center of its own misrepresentation claim, and has admitted to me that today’s press campaign majoring on claimed hidden camera footage involved a “certain amount of engineering.”
I was sent a private link to the “sting” video last night and was told it would be flagged in a press release today. This press release was issued this morning and was headlined “Buyers of stolen bikes confronted by their own choices in daring stunt.”
The video shows real people supposedly being duped by actors posing as a burly bike thief and a victim of bike theft.
Late last night, I discovered that the cash handed over to the supposed bike thief was provided to the participants by the film crew. The members of the public were recruited through a Whatsapp call-out and were told they would be given cash to buy a secondhand bicycle. They would also be rewarded for their time.
The press release says: “A film released by VanMoof this morning shows buyers of stolen bikes turning a blind eye to the crimes they’re supporting – and then being caught in the act.”
The “daring stunt” was filmed in a derelict hospital in Amsterdam, and many of the participants had their smartphones confiscated because they were told the Dutch state was desperate to sell the building and was sensitive about its ruinous state.
A Whatsapp message “asked for people who would buy a second-hand VanMoof bike, ride it around, and then review the bike’s performance on camera,” one of the participants told me.
Once selected for the stunt, participants were interviewed and promised rewards for taking part. They were not told they would be used in a video showing “real life” buyers of stolen bicycles. All signed release forms saying their footage could be used, but the participant I spoke to was not shown the video in advance despite being promised this would happen.
The participant added:
The people in the video look like they were willing to ‘steal’ a bike for personal use, whereas in their minds they were just trying to get back to the VanMoof staff and explain what happened and give the bike back, since they were never going to keep it.”
VanMoof’s press release states that “real buyers of stolen bikes” were duped by a “fake ad … posted online and the whole escapade was captured.”
The release concludes: “The effect on the buyer when they are confronted with their actions is clear.”
When I approached VanMoof with my concerns that the video was making false claims the company’s PR manager told me:
This was an experiment which, by its very nature, requires a certain amount of engineering. Everyone partaking knew they were purchasing a second-hand bike – an ad was placed online about a VanMoof mystery shopping experience. We were as transparent as possible with the buyers that they could be filmed and the experiences could be used for marketing purposes.”
The hidden camera video does not reveal the buyers were at least partially aware they were taking part in the stunt. Viewers of the video are led to believe the participants are ordinary members of the public caught in a sting.
When challenged about this, VanMoof promised it would be adding a “disclaimer to the video description.” This has yet to appear and, were it not to have the same prominence as the in-video captions for “actor,” will not be seen by most viewers because the video will be embedded on third-party websites.
The press release was later updated with this statement:
“The buyers in the film are mystery shoppers who were commissioned by VanMoof to share their experience of buying second-hand VanMoof bicycles via online sales platforms. They responded to an online ad and were given various hints around the purchase that it could possibly be a stolen bicycle.”
VanMoof has been integrating anti-theft technology into its bikes since 2016. These include built-in alarms, remote immobilization systems, and a rear-wheel “Stealth Lock” which secures a bike with a kick.
At the end of July, Digital Trends magazine claimed it had breached the company’s market-leading on-bike security measures but was forced to retract the claim in early August when VanMoof proved the magazine had been duped by an external source.
“We were wrong,” admitted Digital Trends in a headline. Will VanMoof now realize it was wrong to release a PR campaign based around a truth-bending video?
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Article revised on August 24 with embed of re-edited video and the following statement from VanMoof:
