MN have used my quote to promote a product I’ve never bought 🤔

You can complain about misleading marketing, but the fact that they are your words is neither here nor there now - they are Mumsnet's words - so they have no obligation to care how you feel other than from a consumer/ marketing perspective.

Mumsnet owns your content in basically the same way as if they had written it themselves.

honestly, what is this meltdown about? A marketing email included a general quote about gazebos (not even a bad one), and suddenly it’s turned into a full-on witch hunt.

Let’s be real: this isn’t about the gazebo is it? Some of you just really hate it here and will jump on absolutely anything to have a go. And I say this as someone who’s not here to defend ANY company. They can all take care of themselves. But this sort of performative outrage over a gazebo is unhinged. Take a fucking look at yourselves.

Also it’s the sunniest weekend we’ve had in months. Why are grown adults spending it angrily dissecting a fucking email? Go outside. Have a drink. Sit under a parasol. Or a gazebo, if you can bear the sight of one without getting the pitchforks out. Seriously, get a grip. This is just fucking weird.

Let’s be clear what the issue is…

I have no expectation of ownership over words I write online.

If MN had written an email saying “Wondermoomin raved about her pop up gazebo, we’ve found a similar one that’s reduced…” that would have been fine. (Even if it’s a bit odd to use such an old post.)

But the fact that MN have removed the reference points in my post(s) - got it from the garden centre, no idea what brand etc - and placed it next to a photo and link which makes it look like that photo and link is the “it” I’m talking about - well that’s deliberately misleading, and that is not cool. At all.

honestly, what is this meltdown about? A marketing email included a general quote about gazebos (not even a bad one), and suddenly it’s turned into a full-on witch hunt.

Let’s be real: this isn’t about the gazebo is it? Some of you just really hate it here and will jump on absolutely anything to have a go. And I say this as someone who’s not here to defend ANY company. They can all take care of themselves. But this sort of performative outrage over a gazebo is unhinged. Take a fucking look at yourselves.

Also it’s the sunniest weekend we’ve had in months. Why are grown adults spending it angrily dissecting a fucking email? Go outside. Have a drink. Sit under a parasol. Or a gazebo, if you can bear the sight of one without getting the pitchforks out. Seriously, get a grip. This is just fucking weird.

honestly, what is this meltdown about? A marketing email included a general quote about gazebos (not even a bad one), and suddenly it’s turned into a full-on witch hunt.

Let’s be real: this isn’t about the gazebo is it? Some of you just really hate it here and will jump on absolutely anything to have a go. And I say this as someone who’s not here to defend ANY company. They can all take care of themselves. But this sort of performative outrage over a gazebo is unhinged. Take a fucking look at yourselves.

Also it’s the sunniest weekend we’ve had in months. Why are grown adults spending it angrily dissecting a fucking email? Go outside. Have a drink. Sit under a parasol. Or a gazebo, if you can bear the sight of one without getting the pitchforks out. Seriously, get a grip. This is just fucking weird.

Can anyone recommend an amazing shovel? Something that’s good for digging a deeper and deeper hole?

MN recommended lavender at that, at least we know it will be high quality....oh....wait.....

😂 honestly, sniff some lavender and calm down

Hi

I'm the Mumsnet editor who produces the recommendation emails you receive, including last night's Discounts newsletter, so I'd like to explain my process.

I appreciate that the quote used to describe a pop-up gazebo last night was not directly applicable to the specific gazebo which was promoted, so firstly let me apologise if this has caused confusion or concern.

When products are selected for recommendation, our goal is always to share information which is useful to Mumsnetters and to help them find great products or bargains. We always try to use quotes that are as recent as possible and, where those are not available, ensure that a quote is still relevant. Where a quote may be used to recommend a product it is carefully selected to make sure that it is honestly describing either a specific item, or the general benefits of owning a similar item. We feel these quotes are still helpful because they describe generic merits of the product which apply to all versions. However I can see that we should be clearer when using these quotes - and should have added some explanation to the quote along the lines of "our users love the ease of using pop-up gazebos" to put it in its correct context.

To clarify, there was not, and never is, any intention of misleading readers. We also always make sure to link to the user's quote on the thread, so you can go to that conversation and make up your own mind based on what other users have said, with full transparency.

I hope this goes some way towards explaining our processes. That said, it is only ever our intention to provide honest recommendations, so going forward we will tighten up the process to clearly flag when a quote is being used to describe a similar, but not identical, product. We will also be emailing everyone who received last night's Discounts email to clarify the situation so nobody feels they have been misled.

.

.

Jesus i cant believe this thread, its a fucking gazebo for gods sake. Maybe everyone should buy one to prevent getting too much sun and losing the plot to this extent. The quote describes every pop up gazebo ever made and if it was a big conspiracy to fool you all would it be linked directly to the the post the quote came from showing exactly what was said and when. OK complain, don't buy the gazebo but surely you have something better to do on a sunny Friday into a bank holiday weekend than keep repeating the same thing and manufacture outrage over something so pathetic.

Oh dear. Is my spoof name too believable?

Best Tablet for Kids in 2025? As “highly recommended by Mumsnet families”?

MN Swears By says the Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Tablet is the best for toddlers. It’s apparently recommended by RestingPandaFace, who’s quoted as saying “Kids’ fire is really easy to set up and pretty indestructible”.

What in fact she said (in October 2021) was “Kids’ kindle fire is really easy to set up and pretty indestructible”. Her words appear to have been edited to delete the reference to “Kindle” which would have betrayed the fact that she was talking about a now-obsolete product.