Continuing the discussion around instagram influencers and ethics

[bawbles]

Continued from old thread

[PeppaP]

Apart from MP, who are the IGers who are getting the whole #ad transparency right without being annoying? Because it’s one thing being shady about ads but full disclosure isn’t that great either when it’s ad after ad after ad.

[SpongeBobGrannyPants]

The 'famous for other things' ones like Giovanni Fletcher seem to be good at it (although she's had her fair share of ad criticism in the past so been a learning curve for her too I think). I think The Frugality and Feathering the Empty Nest seem quite transparent too. The Frugality gets gifted so much, it's nuts!! I actually don't follow a lot of them anymore so I'm sure there are more who are getting it right.

[BeautyBox]

Erica Davies is pretty flawless in terms of transparency

[bawbles]

I don’t know about getting it right but weeslice speaks in stories lots about getting more freebies/sweatshirts than she can wear and often does giveaways.
She seems pretty savvy at not fucking people off and doesn’t ever post photos of peonies.
I would mostly trust what she recommends as she doesn’t seem to be monetising via ads despite having a very high engagement rate from her followers.

[PaperStraws]

Another vote here for Erica Davies. Dee Campling is pretty good at describing her collaborations. Simply the Nest is excellent and seems to totally get 'it' (us).

[bawbles]

I’d agree that Frugality is good however when she repeats outfits/house posts she isn’t always tagging the gifts etc again.
Which I get must be hard work but if she’s done a paid post with Sezane then rewears the bag or shoes from the ad I think that should be made clear - maybe ‘shoes are old but were given to be by sezane as part of paid Work I did with them’ etc

[PaperStraws]

DMBL40 is obviously 👌🏼

[ScipioAfricanus]

Erica Davies is fab for transparency. I do feel like for me, her feed is too much ad/sponsored content, but that’s just my preference.

[PeppaP]

There was beef about weeslice a couple of threads ago after someone on mn wrote about a bad experience at her meet up. She didn’t come off great tbh.

Just watched Erica Davies story on centre parks and yes very transparent but at the end she says she had a message with someone telling her she doesn’t have to use ad if the content isn’t pre approved or paid for by the company ad per ASA rules. I think before being able to accept paid ads or sponsorship an influencer should have to do some basic training on ASA rules as no one seems to be clear on proper disclosure.

[PaperStraws]

I suspect if they were all as transparent you'd feel the same about many others as well

[bawbles]

I don’t follow Erica Davies but just had a look and first impressions very good. Even on posts with lots of tags there’s clarity what was gifts etc.

I stopped following DMBL ages ago as despite her seeming nice and honest etc I wasn’t that interested in the content - too maxi dress /fashion heavy for me.

[bawbles]

@PeppaP what was the weeslice beef? I must admit I enjoy how un-insta her feed/kids are. It’s good to see people making a success of doing it their own way

[ScipioAfricanus]

It’s kind of ridiculous if people are trying to tell Erica Davies not to say ad when she’s perfectly willing to do so! Keen to protect her from the horrors of grubby commerce - or rather, being open about it. Some women, I think, want to live in little squares where all is peonies and people being your friend and ‘living their best life’, like an alternative reality.

[PaperStraws]

How bizarre to tell her she shouldn't use #ad because there wasn't any pre approval. It's just playing with semantics. Consumers understand ad far more than aff or spon and her disclosures were super clear on the deal. Center parcs gave her a free lodge and asked her to share pictures to her followers - it's an ad in my eyes even if it didn't meet the strict ASA definition (debatable anyhow). Well done Erica it was perfectly done.

[PeppaP]

This is exactly what Erica D said about it for anyone that didn’t see her stories

[PeppaP]

@bawbles
Do you remember when weeslice had a meet up/event? Someone on these threads wrote that they didn’t have a good time, didn’t talk to WS as she was too busy with her instapals and that she was left disappointed. WS did a bizarre story about it, saying it’s not true and it didn’t happen like that, all the while running away from her kids crying for her. Then one of her instapals did a quite angry story about it calling the mner all sorts.

[ScipioAfricanus]

The ASA are really being needlessly soft with insta advertising. The way they are running behind it trying to apply feeble rules which don’t really work in the social media context reminds me of the way that schools and other organisations are racing to catch up with technology and its shifting implications and forms. But unlike schools where the main aim is to educate people, it should be a major part of what the ASA are doing.

In general, in the long term, I think we will suffer from letting technology be used and developed so unquestioningly (children, iPhones, robots doing our jobs etc). I think it’s all for the benefit of capitalism and business to let it run ahead of us, and none for the individual and his/her wellbeing. But I know I digress.

[bawbles]

@PeppaP I recall that she’s done a Scottish one plus a London one

I get that it must be hard to talk to everyone at stuff like this though - was that just the compliant as seems harsh if so? Or was she not nice in RL?

[bawbles]

@PeppaP who was the angry instapal btw? I’ve not seen her stories for a few weeks so wondering if she’s less active or I’ve muted her (I get bored of most after a bit and mute them)

[PeppaP]

This is the post. I don’t want to say who the friend who defended weeslice was as it all got a bit out of hand and us vs them, she posted about it on her ig after a few posters here questioning her rants being kept in stories. I think she’s toned down since then, and has also been through a lot.

[PaperStraws]

Anyway, ASA don't have copyright over the word 'AD', fgs. ASA can define their remit in terms of what adverts are deemed to be encompassed by their regulations, but if someone wants to denote their marketing communications as an advert, they can go ahead and do so if they feel their followers would benefit from that kind of transparency. It's not as if ASA are going to report anyway for plagiarising the word AD. Heck, we can't even rely on ASA to deal with stuff that is within their remit.

[ChocolateTea]

Izzy Judd seems to be transparent - a lot of her stuff is tagged #ad, she did the aveno stuff last week, Heinz weaning, hello fresh recently

However Harry Judd this weekend was doing swipe up on his stories for Moonpig for father's Day. Two or three different stories, with no #ad or #spon. It struck me weird as he's not usually a swipe up plugging Instagram person, so maybe he didn't realise. But a bit niave if so


Mod is good at hastagging ad now. I liked Clemmie Telford's posts this weekend stating she's had a discount for a review. Not an ad as such, but it was clearly pointed out in both her stories and her grid post. I actually found myself more receptive to reading and looking into the campsite tbh.

[SpongeBobGrannyPants]

My Fussy Eater is good too. Although she's pretty slick now overall anyway.

[bawbles]

@ChocolateTea I think Izzy Judd was the only one who tagged anything for the Aveeno event last week however she is their brand ambassador so presumably was the only one who got paid for being there. The others just got the freebies/maybe expenses.

I think Izzy seems nice however when the whole MP/Next/Hello mag star mum thing kicked off MP was the only one from the panel to speak out. Izzy, Kimberley Walsh and Binky from reality tv et al kept schtum despite the whole diversity hoo hah. MP owned that one and admitted going along with it/not thinking it through and recognised the implications but it made the others look bad IMO as they simply didn't acknowledge it. I think MP goes above and beyond to acknowledge she's in a position of privilege - not just white privilege but middle class, nice family, financial, professional jobs etc.

[ABuckToothedGirlinLuxembourg]

It’s funny as a couple of the ones mentioned here I don’t think are that great at transparency...one in particular, but I won’t name as it isn’t fair. Just highlighting that we see all this quite differently.