To be fed up of Instamums 2

[Hmmmmx100]

Continued from original post...

Getout21 - oh god, never read the comments!

I've read both threads and agree with the majority of posts about the need for more transparency around advertising.

Personally, it's the sharing of every minute detail of children's lives that's the biggest issue for me. I was reading this report last week which may be of interest to some on this thread:

Have 'Generation Tagged' lost their privacy?

The University of Winchester has published a report looking at the legislative, regulatory and ethical framework surrounding the depiction of young children on digital, online and social media and the protection that should be afforded to maintaining their privacy. Recommendations include calls for: young children to have an independent right to privacy, which is not dependent on what their parents think about their own privacy; social media and internet companies to have a duty to consider young children’s privacy and best interests.
Source: University of Winchester

report

The whole insta mums thing is just so crass and tasteless. It started off well but has descended into a kind of fake sponsors and freebies which are passed off as amazing. Disingenuous. Especially when most of the followers wouldn't be able to afford the things being advertised. The worst part of it all for me is the constant moaning. Whinge whinge whine moan. Moaning because they 'solo bed-timing' or feeding the kids, or having to work, having to do the food shop, buy holiday clothes, have private chefs for the evening... crass.

Also do not be fooled by the nice persona. A few months ago mod posted awful comments about an insta user who had apparently criticised the freebies. Mod loyalists hounded the other lady off insta. It was awful. And mod went block ballistic when she one follower questioned whether she had a body positive book coming out as she kept boasting about how terrible her body was but how proud of it she was (she's got a great figure btw). It was clear that she was jumping on the body positive craze. She deleted so many comments that night. It must be hard to maintain a positive following when everyone is not positive about every post.

And all the schmoozing in soho.... they're all so... smug.

Loving the Daily Mail comments I particularly enjoyed the one slating MN and the instamums for living life on the internet rather than in the real world. Of course this person takes time out of the real world to read and comment on the DM site.

Can I just get a kudos for saying two days ago this would hit the Daily Fail today?! I even beat MotherPukka to it 😂

Nice to see they completely actually didn't write a story! They didn't mention the advertising discussion, or child on social media discussion. Both of which would have made a decent editorial piece tbh!! Ah well, shame.

And both pictures did a nice little bit of extra advertising for martinhal there. Wonder if there's some kind of deal going on 😂😂

I don't get it. If you're an Instamama you can say what you like because your feelings are hurt, and not shut down any awful comments on your feed thereby condoning them, but reasoned debate or criticism on MN is not on?

That sums up what is wrong with these insta famous parents - a lot of them are now businesses. They have a brand, books, agents and therefore have crossed over the line from ordinary parents taking pics of their family life to businesses. As such they are then open to the scrutiny, discussion and criticism as any business is. It's all very well saying "if you don't like don't follow" but surely that could easily apply to these accounts - if they don't like criticism then shut up shop. Simple.

However, while I don't like these insta parents and the shilling they do under the radar, what really bothers me is how they use their children. It would seem that every aspect of their lives is fodder. Everything.

It's a gross invasion of privacy. And I don't buy the "when they're in double figures I'll stop featuring them". Why wait til then? Why are babies and toddlers and schoolchildren exempt from having privacy? I just don't get it. Not only do you not know who is viewing the images or what they are doing with them, they are out there forever. That "cute" picture of them having a meltdown will still be out there when they're teenagers navigating the minefield that is adolscent friendships.

Not only that, but your home is supposed to be a place of sanctuary, a haven where you can be yourself. Not for insta kids though. It's a place of work, where your most intimate moments (sitting in the potty, having a meltdown, playing) is filmed and uploaded for hundreds of thousands of strangers to gawk at in order for your parents to get a free whatever. From what I've seen there seems to be no limits
to the time of day/activity/hours these children are what is in effect working. Do any insta parents put limits on when they film? I'd be interested to know.

There's also the danger that when they're older what they may think of as happy family memories were in fact just staged for Instagram. What a horrible thought.

You couldn't pay me enough to put my kids out there like that.

Mod is awful for not declaring freebies. And her begging for freebies posts are cringe ('help in on my very last drop of Charlotte Tilbury foundation'... cue one being dropped off). I really think she can be unpleasant as she has led some very recent insta lynchings by screenshotting posts by other users who dared to question her advertising. Cue her followers attacking said users. Very very unpleasant. If you watch her and fods threads you'll see that every single negative comment is deleted pronto.

For me, some of these accounts come across as repping the gentrification of parent hood. (Yes I know that sounds wanky) it seems like it's all about the wanky brands and the French windows and the first world problems rather than just getting on with stuff.

I think to a lot of people these instamummies come across a bit like the blonde gang of 4 by 4 women in Boden you get blanking the 'plebs' at my kids primary school.

And another thing: why are they all so fuvking white and middle class? I hate that people aspire to be like them and admire their values (some of them not all)

When I say I hate that a lot of followers aspire to their values I'm talking about the constant coveting 'I must have that in my life' stuff.

Home from work , no Nanny here but young adults don't need one.

RetirementCarriageClock post said everything and it was beautiful put.

beautifully!

I was blocked by alice-j-t (insta mum exploiting her kids and not declaring freebies) when I asked if one of her 'holidays'was a freebie. Wtaf. They are so precious when questioned. It's so disingenuous.

Posts on insta this week have shown the recent 'experiences' by mod and fod (holidays, meal delivery, private chefs, ironing services, cleaner, holidays, girls only cruise, haircuts, nanny servicesetc etc) were all staged ads. What a disservice to their followers. And really fucking sneaky.

Interesting new post on The Home That Made Me given this discussion. She's partnered up with Tesco to promote some Shop & Scan service and it's all clearly hashtagged #ad and she couldn't be clearer that it's sponsored so no complaints on that front at all.

However...she's known to be a die hard Aldi shopper, hardly a week goes by where she's not Instastorying from inside Aldi or at home putting the Aldi shopping away or just popping out to Aldi. But now she's all over Tesco for a sponsored post. It just comes across as really disingenuous being paid to promote something that she doesn't use in her real life, she actively talks about using a competitor. It just seems like taking readers for a fool, like we're not savvy enough to spot the inconsistencies. And I don't get why Tesco would partner with someone who talks about shopping in Aldi every week. (Well I do get why they do it, she's got nearly 90k followers!) But it just seems like a really poor partnership and a classic example of someone taking the money for something that's not authentic to them, which in turns tarnishes their reputation for being real with their readers.

Any brand looking at that will be put off immediately. I would not recommend any of my clients work with Susie Verrill after her response to this thread and I'm also shocked by the responses of other 'big name' influencers who have commented on her post in an equally irresponsible manner.

Ditto MrsLister.

There's also the danger that when they're older what they may think of as happy family memories were in fact just staged for Instagram. What a horrible thought

I hadn't thought of that, it's a bit sad actually.

@Buttercunt that reminds me of a woman I met in new zeal and. She was either a quint or a sextuplets. She told me that as a kid they were paraded in front of the media dressed up as little dolls. They were mini celebs. She said she felt they'd all been really damaged by it and that it was all very dysfunctional.

By the way whoever flagged up Esther Coren to follow thanks....shes one bloody funny women !

chunkyficken AMEN.

Also think how HARD it is to get a good photo of your kids. How many hours of these poor over-exposed, commoditised, hawked-about munchkins' lives are spent having to stand about looking 'fun' and 'fresh' and 'natural' again and again until mummy has got the money shot that will make her HER money? Any mother doing this who kids herself she's 'just a good mama spending time with her lil man/girl' rather than one who is calculatingly introducing them to a world of exploitation and narcissism for personal gain needs their head looking at!

I would imagine the kids learn pretty quickly how to pose well enough to please mummy and no doubt there are incentives. It's very difficult, it seems to happen very fast and there must be an element of 'wow, this is too good to be true' and it would be hard to resist. Certain accounts have stayed remarkably quiet while for some another day another ad.

I dont do instagram stuff

But would agree with mumsy

My children learnt from an early age to pose so i could take a picture

The body image stuff needs its own thread. People should focus on the 99% positive, interesting discussion happening here rather than the 1% off topic bitchiness.