What H&M embody, I think, is the problem many people have with social or other media, image, and feeling like they’re being manipulated.
There are ways to use Twitter, IG, FB etc as a means by which to disseminate information quickly to a lot of people at the same time for the benefit of the recipient. There are many examples of accounts like this. The NHS, the Prime Minister’s office, weather channels, TfL etc.
There are also ways to use these fora to advertise, persuade or influence. Mostly for financial gain (celebrities, commercial ventures selling goods and services etc), sometimes for power (politicians, news channels etc). Either way, it’s for the benefit of the poster, not the recipient.
The RF senior members (eg BP) use these fora like the first type of user: to disseminate information quickly for the benefit of the recipient (assuming a royalist audience, which they do. Of course, ultimately it’s about money and power but that’s a different question).
The RF junior members stray a little - but not much - towards the second category. For the likes of Eugenie, you do wonder why she bothers, but perhaps it’s for the above gullible royalist audience. Whatever it is, however cheesy or naff (b&w “accidental” shots of private intimate moments seem to be de rigeur these days), they’re nonetheless mostly informational.
Charles, and W&K do it to establish a wholesome, “king-in-waiting” image to build support for the continuance of the RF. So, a little of the second category but only in furtherance of the first category.
With photos such as these from H&M, the message becomes blurred. (Issuing the photo to the Associated Press is akin to putting it on IG for the likes of H&M, they know it’ll be picked up and published worldwide instantly. AP has the widest reach, including the four U.K. rags H&M said they’d boycott.) It’s the dissemination of factual information from the future King’s son (the pregnancy, lovely and good luck to them), but using “language”/“media-speak” that the recipient recognises from influencers/ persuaders/ advertisers. H&M have made it very clear they want to be financially free of the RF, and haven’t hidden the Netflix or Spotify deals, so there is no doubt that they are in the business of making money. And, as they have themselves advised, users of media (social, mainstream etc) have to be wary of the motivations of people who create content because often things are not what they seem, or they’re pure fabrication, or they’re gossipy and made-up, or people have ulterior motives. So, the consumer of a photo like this, which - quite unnecessarily - accompanies factual news, feels manipulated. What do they want from me? My money? My attention? And why?
And THAT is what gets people’s backs up. The whole Meghan and Harry drama is about who has the upper hand in a long drawn out game of manipulation between the media, the RF, the public and themselves.