To be fed up of Instamums 2

[Hmmmmx100]

Continued from original post...

I wasn't aware of instamums before this thread so I decided to have a look at what the fuss is about. I won't say which one I looked at but the house, the children, the husband and the clothes were perfect. However, very little was actually being said. There was a post about which cereal a child likes best and some comment about a house plant. I didn't feel I've been missing much.

If it's the one I'm thinking of, the cereal was paid product placement. It was two similar posts with a little girl? Is that the one?

The thing that annoyed me as well when I folllwed a few of these mums. Is that they all upload the same adverts at the same time. Like the Cadbury one I had about 15 of them on my timeline . Do company's really think it works cause it really puts me off that product

Leeelee I understand your point but I think you've missed ours. Appreciate the whole thing is a new and grey area. But people felt misled as Mod and FOD were not transparent about the whole holiday (which begs the question what else are they not declaring is not as it seems). It has transpired that it looks likely that the holiday was a gift, and that gift may have had strings attached (e.g. Post positive reviews). But MOd and FOD seemed to continually dodge questions about whether they had got the holiday free or not.Thats really unfair. MOD and FOD accepted a free holiday (who wouldn't?!) but then seem to have deliberately misled their followers about the fact they did this. This has broken the trust and sullied their brand.

I hope unmumsy mum takes note of all this feedback when/if she starts doing #ad's. It's simple really- just be transparent.

MissHenty if Emily Norris was paid for that trip to center parks she really should be ashamed of herself . Not once in the vlogs or instragram did she mention that was an AD! Do these people not realise that without their subscripers that no one will pay them to go on free holidays . So disrespectful to people who follow her .

I agree with some of the other posters. I would also like to know if MOD/FOD's washing machine was free or paid for? Because MOD was asking for recommendations and insuinuating she picked the washing machine which her followers had kept recommending. Was that whole thing a sham and she just chose whichever washing machine was gifted to her for free? If so, that again is very misleading and they aren't treating their followers with honesty or respect.

*subscribers

I have absolutely no idea if EN got that trip to Center Parcs for free or not? I initially also assumed she had paid for it but after all these posts on here I'm questioning it. But technically she probably wouldn't have to let us all know if it was a free holiday would she? Because although the holiday may have been free, she's not being paid extra to advertise it. So it's a gray area.

Even if the holiday wasn't free- were the treatment/activities free? Did she have to leave a positive review about "den building" for example? I really wanted to ask her in the comments but I get scared of being called a "troll" and blocked. There didn't seem to be anything negative about her whole trip (even a small comment like- we have to queue for a long time or whatever) so that alone does make me suspect that some elements of that trip were gifted? I really don't know though?

I still think EN is great. Would just love more transparency.

MOD and FOD have agents - it's irrelevant if they don't know the protocol - they are professionals getting paid a lot of cash from this venture so it's no excuse. Especially when deleting questions around the free stuff they have received.

Just popped back to say stylemesunday's recent post is perfect re transparency. She was gifted some gym stuff, is clear they were gifted, she put a #gifted on the post. It doesn't put me off her, I'm actually interested in the product (a discount code helps too). It's authentic and transparent.

Obviously some are taking note of what is being discussed here and it's good to see it in action.

The confusion comes when the poster has received a free holiday ...but hasn't also been paid to sponsor it

When it comes to holidays, the vast majority of the time, the "payment" is the holiday. I don't know how it works for the real top dogs of IG/blogging, but that's certainly how it works lower down in the ranks.

It's good practice to acknowledge that you were given the holiday free of charge in exchange for a review. Most people I know of certainly do this in their blogs as part of a disclaimer, as did I, but you don't see disclaimers as much in IG posts. I think ideally people would, but when I was uploading on IG from our holiday, I didn't want to type out "We were booked onto a holiday at free of charge in exchange for an honest review" every time I posted - more out of laziness than wanting people to think we'd paid for the holiday ourselves, because I was very open on other social media and the blog that we hadn't.

I think when you're cycling round and round the positive feedback loop, it's easy to disappear up your own arse and forget that not everyone lives in your bubble and thinks like you.

MissHenty oh there has been plenty of comments about all the adverts under Emily Norris videos I seen three within minutes of her uploading her videos and instragram . She just deletes every single one that is negative or asks questions she doesn't want to answer .

Stylemesunday has just put #gifted on a post. High five to her!

I think you know the one Elspeth

If people are really bothered about false advertising just make a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority.

Gosh, people are very heavily invested in this - I'm a bit fascinated because I don't get it.

I find it hard to care if someone who is the insta equivalent of a reality tv star, has been given a free holiday. I think maybe the issue is many of the followers of instamums are maybe generally 30+ and don't get what the whippersnappers do ie that of course is advertising/product placement. And likewise, instamums themselves maybe don't get that their followers aren't fully up to speed with how it all works (illuminating instastory from Susie Verrill on that one, the other day.)

I think I might have found FOD - there was a post/story where it was very obviously advertising (to me it was obvious, and my whipper snapped a long looonnnnnggg time ago) and if you thought it wasn't, I can see that you would be annoyed to find out it was. I haven't come across MOD and FOD before so I can't comment on them personally.

But I think that there are loads of honest insta mums who aren't posting gloating photos of their beautifully styled children, ones who post about avocado sick in their hair etc. Maybe we should all just follow them, and boycott the #spon #ad #paidtosaythispieceofuttershiteiswonderfulbutfgsdontactuallybuyitbecauseitwillruinyourlifeasithasmine

cowgirls I'm sure people do/will but that doesn't mean the ethical practices and the fact that there aren't any clear rules around this whole social media advertising thing should be silenced from debate. That's just censorship.

Some people may not care one bit which is fine that doesn't mean that others can't and shouldn't talk about it or feel that they can't ask questions directly to those to clarify their content.

Waitinforflamin- you're absolutely right, they are a business and a biggish one at that. I wonder how involved the process is- for this amount/product/trip you must mention product/place x so many times in this way (video etc). I imagine some collabs would be this involved others less so.

But yes transperancy is key.

I'm definitely feeling kind of over it. MOD's lack of stories and FOD's reduction in mystery tour teasers suggest they have been advised to tone it down and based on lack of response I imagine the accounts may be handled slightly differently. The sad thing about this is there's nothing personal addressing any raised issues. So the response is professional rather than a 'real' person. FOD's brushed it off and his ads are so addy you'd be a fool not to realise and he's relishing the role and must put in so many hours and given his anger and stress in the background of Clemmie's stories when he couldn't upload a bit ad at 8pm, there is a darker side to this and roll on his family and home life.
MOD is the grey area, where the freebies and incentives are unclear. I imagine after getting the book done and having 2 tiny babies at home the excitement this new life offered was fantastic. Given the thread is so widely known about by instagrammers, she cannot have been oblivious to this and so a direct response would have probably saved face (pukka style) however it would seem we'll just see a more carefully managed account and her engaging more on the topics she became famous for with the marketing a little more professionally handled.
The children though still feature very heavily and I know recently the twins were spotted at chessington with their nanny. Maybe a house move will be key in slightly less overt 'here's my house, here's my bin, my garden, walking to school' who knows. Instagram is just a small amount of our time with a coffee while the baby naps for most of us.

*nit ad and toll on family

Mother_pucka also marked her story #gift. For all the palava they are listening and acting. Good on them.

As an 'InstaHusband' - yep, they exist too - I agree with a number of things discussed over the course of the two threads so far. Some has been way out of line but not going to go there. I just think it's like anything in life though; I love football but sometimes footballers piss me off. I love coffee but you can get a bad coffee. Does anyone really hold Instamums in such esteem and regard that equates to such a furore? Aren't we guilty of just taking this shit a bit too seriously?
The bit I totally get - because it annoys me too - and is the most interesting thing discussed is the use of ads; I totally get that people/viewers can sometimes feel a bit cheated when they've invested time and interest in following an Instagram account for years and have seen the Instamum go from being totally frank, almost naive and uncontrived... to being this polished, ad-hawking marketeer. That would frustrate me. But in my experience, most Instamums get this right... I work with some and their authenticity is the most important thing to them. Many turn down collaborations that aren't right for their feeds. Many try to keep the right balance between normal everyday posts and sponsored posts. And when they do hashtag #ad, you've developed a trust in that person over time and know that they're only promoting something they would genuinely use and wholeheartedly recommend to others. There are plenty of Instamums out there like this; let's uphold them and concentrate on the positives. For those that totally sell themselves out and hawk stuff left right and centre to the detriment of their credibility and following, that's their loss and the unfollow button is there

But is insta really such a small amount of our time? At the risk of sounding extremely weird, I hear from MOD, FOD etc (via stories) more often than I hear from my own family sometimes! I'm sure I can't be the only one. We check in with these people daily!

So when you have people like MOD saying that they want to help you feel more confident in a bikini, help you with childbirth issues etc etc you start to build up a trust. That is then totally shattered when you are misled (at best)/lied to (at worst) about whether their holiday, washing machine etc reviews are genuine or not.

Hopefully this thread will start to change things. We want #transparency please! We indirectly help fund these lifestyles- please just be honest with us!

I've unfollowed a lot this week. The ones who reacted very unpleasantly themselves, the ones who are entirely dismissive of the discussion, and the ones who sit backin tacit approval whilst their comment section goes up in flames.

I saw that on MP too. It's heartening. Even if a couple of people start the transparency ball rolling, it may spread. I'm also hoping to see a reduction in the focus on children, or at least a reduction in the unnerving focus on them as "characters". Just saw one comment this morning from a follower to a Mum "we all know YourChild is a complete Diva!" and I thought hold on, this child doesn't know you from Adam but you've pegged her, possibly unfairly. And the child has no control over the perception. They may be too young to be aware but they won't always.

Castamere I really admire the entrepreneurial s chutzpah of insta bloggers. I love it that we have commentary coming from individuals with an opinion and not just big organisations. I love it that they are self starters and often women and have something really witty to say and often good advice to share.

I don't care if they get glossy and professional. Good bloody luck to them.

But I do care if I'm an audience for stealth advertising. I don't care if there are ads. But I want to know it's an Ad. Or sponsored. And tbh bloggers get boring quick if the products are wrong or out out of whack. That's unfollow time.

Magazines, tv, and every other media channel have regulation.

We should all follow grandmother_pukka.

She has just posted something really lovely. It includes the line "Most people just want to come on here [instagram] for a quick moment of relief from their toddler that is refusing greens."

Look for the photo of the slippers.

(are we allowed to quote insta on here? if not I'll repost this without the quote)