Does anyone else get really fed up with bloggers and their never ending spending?

[NeonPinkNails]

I guess this is an AIBU but it's S&B related so posting here.

I am getting really tired of bloggers paying lip service to 'buying from the high street and sharing ideas for making the most of the clothes you've got' or whatever it is they claim, when in reality their job seems to consist of buying stupid amounts of ridiculously overpriced ugly stuff that your average reader hasn't a hope of affording and getting loads of freebies.

I know any of us could give it a go if we had a rich husband but I just wish they'd be a bit more honest instead of dressing up hours spent browsing fashion websites or jetting off to exotic locations as 'research' and expecting people to read what amounts to their own personal wish list.

Well not me any more. Anyone else?

[botemp]

If they have a decent following and traffic they're not paying for a thing and more likely being paid to pretend to spend their own money. Companies are either gifting them with things directly or they're given prepaid vouchers/gift cards to spend with them. The ASA rules are very vague and as long as the company doesn't have creative input in the produced content there is no need to disclose a thing. Hurray for the internet and transparency not!

[ShotgunNotDoingThePans]

What took you so long? Spending my free time reading about someone else's amazing good fortune couched as Good Taste and Style has never been my cup of tea reminds me of some of tbe s&b threads on MN.

[PuertoVallarta]

Do not want to bother with them, either. The Instagram celebs are even worse. I mean, good for them and whatever if they're happy, but I don't like how much pressure the whole society puts on women to spend so much time looking good and buying stuff.

It's all disheartening. Lots of us like fashion and beauty but things just seem to have gone so far. I never liked fashion and beauty as aspirational. I like it to be accessible to everyone. These bloggers just seem to really up the ante as far as the aspirational aspect of it all.

I hope I made sense.

[Fuzzypeggy]

They do seem to have something new every week. I am a bit tired of seeing the best boots ever or the best jeans ever and never Seeing them on the blog ever again. It does seem that they only wear things once or twice.

[EverySongbirdSays]

A friend of a friend is a blogger gets so much free stuff that they hope she will choose to promote that she gives a lot away.

Actually buys little.

You have to sell your soul a bit sometimes I think. To keep the blog current you have to have content, for content you need something to say, so new stuff.

I think she has maybe ended up "promoting" things she isn't even interested in because it's been sent to her/asked of her.

It's not really "real" it's a crafted image. They don't have all this money. Or fantastic life.

[QuimReaper]

Everything they talk about is affiliate linked; for anyone that doesn't know, this means that if you click on their link to the item they're advertising, they receive revenue if you buy anything from that site as a result of being directed there from their blog.

As far as I understand it. The affiliate programme also uses cookies, so if you click through to a site and then make a purchase within, say, 30 days, they still get a cut. Amazing for them if they advertise things from incredibly popular websites like ASOS, because you are fairly likely to just buy something from there anyway, even if it's nothing to do with the blog post you read a fortnight ago.

Meaning bloggers always want to wear and affiliate link things from ASOS (etc) meaning ASOS get more and more coverage and take over the world.

[SplatPancake]

I find it all a bit nauseating really, materialism at its worst. There's just so.much.stuff.

I like bloggers who buy and wear stuff, or who feature things of interest in a "oh have you seen what this small producer is making", whether it is S&B, interiors, whatever. Or "here are some interesting thoughts on...", or "I was looking for Xxx and I examined lots of versions for comparison, which you may find useful as your requirements will differ from mine..." Jesus I sound dull.

But "there was this hideously unflattering thing, that none needs, but 5 other similar bloggers are featuring it, and I want to be part of the gang and seem cool and popular, so I bought/got/'was gifted' it in 7 colours cause I'm a brainless sheep materialistic wanker" type constant acquisition mentality makes my skin crawl.

[AgentProvocateur]

"If we had a rich husband"

Have I gone back in time to the 1950s?

[CoolToned]

I used to watch a lot of beauty youtubers - ended up spending a lot of money wanting to try what they're trying (and most of the time, praising!).

I stopped suddenly (just got busy) and now I have a drawer full of makeup (mostly foundation) I don't even use.

It's a waste of money.

[bloodyteenagers]

My dd is very good friends with a few vloggers (actual friends not followers)

For starters no rich husbands on the scene. They been doing it for years and the original followers know why they started. A lot of the followers/watchers arent interested in the real shit, as highlighted in how many hits.

They get sent a lot of stuff to keep of borrow, as sometimes it's about placement. Also get sent gift cards, which are used to buy stuff from the high street. Products range from the very affordable to the high end. It's not just about the stuff, they also get added to guest lists, tickets for events, meals etc. They also talk about stuff not asked to promote. Also talk about products they have had problems with.

A lot of stuff is given away to charities, local causes and close mates. In the early days loads was sold on, which was also talked about. They also do keep stuff they like and will show up in other uploads.

One is using the revenue to put themselves through uni and support their family. The other is starting something locally to help locals.

Why do companies send out stuff? Commercials and advertising costs a lot of money.

[KoalaDownUnder]

Yes.

The whole, 'ooh, I've ordered these in three colours' thing, and they'll be some overpriced fugly boots of which most people could never afford one pair. Also,'I saw these on and they just looked so amazing so I had to have them'.

It's so bloody vacuous and bizarre. They look like complete sheeple who need a hobby not involving consumerism and vanity.

I'm in a bad mood, can you tell?

(And before anyone says it, you're right...nobody's holding a gun to my head and forcing me to read it.)

[AStreetcarNamedBob]

I really don't get the rich husband comment 🙄 Why can these women not run a blog without a wealthy male?

[ZaraW]

I found it amusing when bloggers jumped on the Marie Kondo bandwagon clearly missing the point of the concept only to return to out of control spending or receiving "gifts" in their following posts. Many are smug and really don't dress that well. I still like Poppy though.

[starsinyourpies]

I got stuck at the 'rich husband' comment as well. Should we be sitting at home waiting to be bought pretty things? Personally I work hard and have a job that allows me to buy pretty much what I want thank you.

[NeonPinkNails]

Re the rich husband thing, to have the luxury of starting a blog even if it ends up doing well, you'd generally need some other form of income and from little things that get mentioned you can tell that in many bloggers' case that come from their husbands.

However much they like to tell us about the 'gems' they find on the high street, it's hard to take that seriously when they're also regularly spending 3 figure sums on other stuff - I'm sure lots of people would look good in Primark and New Look if it was mixed in with 'designer' labels but that's not how it works for most of us.

I've been on the 'are we buying too much stuff' thread that's been running this week and it's really made me think. How the hell many clothes must these women have? How many bags or pairs of boots can one person need? Especially when all they do with their time is go shopping!

[StealthPolarBear]

Agent, yes in general we have. Get back to your mop.

[StealthPolarBear]

But I do think in this case the op was making a point about hobby jobs for 'pin money'

[Doobigetta]

Not sure why anyone who earns their money is bridling at the "rich husbands" comments. I think the point was that you couldn't actually make a living doing this stuff. It's self-perpetuating- you ponce around posting selfies in endless new clothes, so you get sent more new free clothes to ponce around taking selfies to post. We could do it, it's not exactly difficult, but we're too busy having actual jobs that generate actual income. In a way these women have slid back to the 50s, or earlier. But that's nothing for the rest of us to feel troubled by. I haven't heard anyone suggest that they are better or more real than the rest of us. They're just a new kind of model-cum-sales assistant. Not something to aspire to.

[SplatPancake]

Neon, where is the "spending too much thread"? Am interested/suffering this month

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

They don't pay for it, it's all free stuff given to them to promote. Even the teens do it,ds's mate was sent an Xbox free just so he could review it on his YouTube account.

[AmberNectarine]

Lol at 'actual jobs that generate actual income'. Yeah, because no bloggers ever do that. Chiara Ferragni pulls in $10m p.a. I know I certainly don't, with my actual job.

[AmberNectarine]

Spending my free time reading about someone else's amazing good fortune couched as Good Taste and Style has never been my cup of tea reminds me of some of tbe s&b threads on MN.

Shotgun which threads are you alluding to there?

[ImperialBlether]

The only blogger I know is my friend's daughter - she suffers from acne and eczema and writes about products that have helped her. She gets around 6,000 hits a month. She is sent absolutely tons of free stuff to review. A shoe company said that if she tweeted about their shoes (just once) they would send her anything that was in stock in her local shop (price range is up to about £200.) It shows the power of Twitter.

[acurtis1234]

I get the rich husband comment, and I do think it's true in some cases. The vast majority of the blogs which appeal to the MN demographic are women who had careers, but have since had the children, and have the luxury of not HAVING to return to work because their partners salary is enough to pay the bills.
However, as the children grow (if they still had babies they'd probably be a "mummy" blogger, violating their children's privacy by posting endless images of them online to sell all the latest baby products but that's another thread), they turn to blogging. They are intelligent women, capable of starting a business, love clothes, have the time to take endless selfies and write blog posts. Why not make money from it? if they don't make money, that's fine too, the gas bill will still be paid and they'll have a lovely social life and some free clothes.

[Louisajohnson224]

There is a blogger who really annoys me(Won't name names) who's blog/YouTube is her job.
She gets sent free things constantly /different country every week..New York etc all paid for.
Then moans that people don't understand how "hard" her job is ..makes me sick
Most be so difficult to be flown around the world first class,best hotels ,thousands of freebies then have the hard task of reviewing them ...