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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be fed up of Instamums

999 replies

Hmmmmx100 · 25/08/2017 22:56

I followed a few of the more well-known Instamums but got weary of the constant daily barrage of brand endorsements. I can't relate to people on £100k a year in Farrow & Ball houses. I just can't. So I had to unfollow em all, every one. AIBU to feel a bit miffed that these people are using the idea of sisterhood to make money? They're not our friends, they're just there to sell us stuff that we probably don't need anyway.

OP posts:
StillStayingClassySanDiego · 27/08/2017 11:59

I don't imagine MoD and FoD started out with any expectation of their popularity soaring, which it has.

I'll say it again, if a brand offered any of us free clothes,make up holidays and cars to trial for the weekend I doubt we'd turn them down.

ElspethFlashman · 27/08/2017 12:03

It isn't their fault it's not clear whether they're profiting? Really?

I had to unfollow the midwife. I'm sure she's nice but it's @productplacement after @productplacement after @productplacement. It's incessant. But you talk about them like their poor ickle babes in the wood. They have agents! I think if it's unclear they're profiting then they're just being disingenuous to bolster their "just like a regular Mum" USP and it's a fairly calculated business model.

grandOlejukeofYork · 27/08/2017 12:07

If you're not following them its even odder that you are strongly against them, given that you must not know what they do or say.

MainFlamingo · 27/08/2017 12:14

I've always liked MoD, and am shocked to see lots of you think she's a bully. I must have missed some posts/live feed of hers at various points.

I really like Susie Verill, she makes me laugh (the 'rave wee' scenario the other day!), and seems down to earth. I like her bluntness and how she says it like it is.

RupertPsmith · 27/08/2017 12:21

I cannot stand Mother of Daughters! Think if i turned up to the hospital and she was my assigned midwife I'd probably turn round and go home/risk having baby in the carpark. Would be concerned she'd be dashing out constantly to check her phone!

What a deeply nasty thing to say.

This thread has got really, really unpleasant.

llhj · 27/08/2017 12:22

Just checked out Courtney Adams. Completely gobsmacked at the level of dedication that must take. To pose like that all day long. Can't really imagine it. I couldn't do it. It's almost like an alternate reality. Do they exist?

llhj · 27/08/2017 12:23

I'm an incredibly nosy person though and just discovered Instagram recently. Love it!

StillStayingClassySanDiego · 27/08/2017 12:30

Would be concerned she'd be dashing out constantly to check her phone!

Oh for God's sake, she's a professional.

Gunpowder · 27/08/2017 12:34

But there are lots of things promoted by traditional media that are at best opaquely paid-for Elspeth. The [[http://vestoj.com/will-i-get-a-ticket/
Lucinda Chambers]] exit from Vogue interview is a case in point. She didn't want to put Alexa Chung on the cover in a 'crappy Michael Kors tshirt' but they had to appease a huge advertiser.

Of course Vogue is not pedalling the 'we're mums just like you angle' but it does position itself as a fashion insider, giving you a nuanced and independent view on what is most stylish and fashionable, or a purveyor of fantasy. No one likes to think the exquisite creation of an up and coming but penniless designer is sometimes booted in favour of an ugly Gucci handbag but of course it is.

Until I worked in fashion (don't any more) I naively had no idea that brands (however indirectly) influenced editorial. I just assumed they paid for their ads and that was that. I don't think it's fair to hold social media posters to a higher moral account than professional journalists.

CourtneyLoveIsMySpiritAnimal · 27/08/2017 12:37

I've always liked MoD, and am shocked to see lots of you think she's a bully

I don't follow many Instamums in general, but I only became aware of MoD through her bullying of another user who I was following.

MainFlamingo · 27/08/2017 12:48

I must have missed that, courtney.

wannabestressfree · 27/08/2017 12:56

@MainFlamingo that's a family trait :)

Original poster
Hmmmmx100 · 27/08/2017 14:04

I think I'd just prefer these instamums to be more transparent about their advertising, instead of frequently exclaiming how much they LOVE the brands they're being paid to flog. If they like it then of course they should say so, but they should also say that they've been paid to promote them. Even the freebies, which they're being paid in kind to promote.

OP posts:
sacchetto · 27/08/2017 14:32

I'd like them also to be honest about the amount of help they get (nannies, grandparents...) instead of pretending that "they're just like one of us".

Friendlylightupbear · 27/08/2017 14:35

Do they have to hashtag with #ad when they're getting paid or promoting a freebie? I guess not...

CourtneyLoveIsMySpiritAnimal · 27/08/2017 14:42

No, they don't have to say whether it's an ad or not on Instagram. I believe the rules are different from Twitter, so some will hastag #ad and others will have try and have you believing that they're promoting VIPoo because they just love it.

Photomummy16 · 27/08/2017 14:44

I do really love lots of the independent sellers who write in a bloggy style and are also instamums but aren't making money from blogs per se. They really do feel 'real' when they post day to day things and you don't mind when their flogging their own wares! Magnificent stanley, Flora fairweather (plus she has an actual pig), etc etc

Photomummy16 · 27/08/2017 14:45

Omg am I going to do a major typo EVERYTIME! I think it's time to stop posting, haha.

THEY'RE!!

Photomummy16 · 27/08/2017 14:46

I just had to google VIPoo - how funny! Ok I'm really stopping now Grin

MakeItStopNeville · 27/08/2017 15:08

Our hotel room had a great view this summer and it was made even better by the fact an Instamum took her photos each day in front of our balcony. She took FOREVER with her prancing and preening and barking orders at the kids. We were in hysterics especially when you then view the post and it is nothing like the reality.

Original poster
Hmmmmx100 · 27/08/2017 15:30

That wouldn't be a well known family resort, would it?

OP posts:
QuackPorridgeBacon · 27/08/2017 15:34

makeit I agree that would be funny to watch. The poor kids though..

Longislandicetee · 27/08/2017 15:42

I am not on Instagram but OK, you sound seriously over invested!

The snidey comments on this thread remind me of why I am careful of what I post on social media.

mrscampbellblackreturns · 27/08/2017 16:06

I love Esther Walker but don't follow any of the others. It is a pretty shady industry and needs some serious regulating.

Blingy - I think people object to vloggers/bloggers/instamums basically using their children to sell stuff with little regard to their children's right to privacy.

Plus the shadiness around not always making it clear when then have been gifted or paid to advertise products.

MoveOnTheCards · 27/08/2017 17:05

Best practice is to always include #ad or #spon within the post and good/big brands and companies paying for posts should insist on it as part of their own disclosure rules (it will be an explicit point within the formal contract and brief they have with the instagrammer) Even a product just sent for free should be made clear in posts if it's reviewed.

If they don't do this then the instagrammer and the brand are both liable to end up in hot water over misleading endorsements.