To be fed up of Instamums 2

[Hmmmmx100]

Continued from original post...

But the accusation isn't that these people are 'annoying'. It's that their deliberately deceptive.

I agree that MOD and FOD probably got swept up in the sudden interest and weird adulation of some of their followers. But I still think they should have been prepared to answer legitimate questions from followers about whether a holiday was free or not (they really should have labelled it as a #gift in the first place- is that really too much to ask?). They ignored every single comment of that nature and instead let other followers try and fight their case and ultimately make fools of themselves by defending them saying "stop trolling, of course this holiday wasn't free or it would have #ad on it". Well it later turned out the holiday had been free, (despite Mod and FOD faking being genuine consumers) . I'm afraid that's just deliverately deceptive and shady.

I agree it would be nice to end this thread on a positive note. For me that positive note is that many of us that have been labelled as 'trolls' on instagram simply for asking if a post is an #ad or not, have been able to discuss things. 75% of the discussion has been respectful and insightful. I hope Advertising Standards takes note of our voices and things become more transparent. I also hope MOD and FOD continue their insta careers and make lots of money from them- but I really hope they do it with more honesty from now on. The signs so far are good.

That's all positive for me :)

Maybe try to stop looking for the negative - at the end of the day, everyone can do what makes them comfortable, it’s all a matter of opinion and most people/followers will look for the good, won’t get to deep or judgemental and, again, if people don’t like it - don’t follow! Peace out!

It isn't all a matter of opinion, there's a CAP code enforced by Advertising Standards. I'm not a lawyer but from reading the CAP code it would appear many insta posters are in breach.

If anyone has the inclination to make a complaint to Advertising Standards and wants to try to change things going forwards, here's the link to do so:

www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html

This thread seemed to become all about MOD though whoever that is, I don't follow them! If a specific instagrammer is pissing you off just don't follow them. I'm sure there are thousands of fame hungry instagrammers who promote free stuff...

I know this is a stupid question but is Mother Pukka's baby a boy or a girl or gender neutral. She calls the baby Eve and Steve. I'm sure it's an in joke but I missed the start of it!

I think Eve lost hair after she was born so Anna said she looked like an old man, hence Steve....

A baby girl. She's Eve but we've started affectionately calling her Stevie (which is also a girl's name) after a few grannies on our street said "he's so lovely" and I was too tired and British to correct them. She's definitely a she.

Absolutely brilliant that unmummsy mum is clearly labelling any ad’s she does as an #Ad - right at the start of a post, before any blurb. IMO She just seems to ‘get’ it and treats her followers with honesty and clarity.

I’ve seen lots more “gifted” tags from instagrammers since this thread, which I think really helps with transparency too.

Saw FOD did a soppy nostalgic post about his summer family Martinhal holiday a couple of weeks back (which presumably he’d been paid and contracted to write so the sentiment is slightly forced and dubious but whatever). His nostalgic post had the word #ad hidden amougst lots of other hashtags at the end of it. I then saw that he didn’t respond to questions and comments about why this notstalgic post had been labelled #ad when the actual posts MoD and FOD made while they were on the Martinhal holiday itself were not labelled #ad (and they therefore had been falsely holding themselves out to be genuine consumers reviewing a holiday). Still find the whole thing very disingenuous but, whatever, I suppose people hold themselves up to different standards when the advertising rules apparently aren’t all that clear on this subject yet. Some posters are more willing than others to mislead their followers it seems. At least things seem to be improving.

On the whole, great that there is seemingly more transparency coming through. Well done mumsnet. I hope advertising standards are looking into all this as they must have had a fair few complaints now.

Ok very sad of me but I've just looked back at the nostalgic post that FOD posted about the Martinhal holiday a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve counted the hashtags. The #ad hashtag has been hidden in the middle of 16 hashtags! To me this smacks of deliberately hide something you don’t want your followers to spot clearly? It just seems a real shame that there’s not enough being done to protect consumers from misleading posts.

MissHenty Surely you have better stuff to do than make judgmental remarks about "soppy" posts....why not move on with this now instead of clearly singling people out for 'misleading consumers' tbh consumers with a drop of common sense will be able to work out what is an ad and what isn't.

I have no problem with soppy posts- sorry if I made it sound as if that was my issue.

You are wrong to say: “consumers with a drop of common sense will be able to work out what is an Ad and what isn’t”. That’s wrong because you can see from the comments that many people were confused about whether the holiday posts were an #Ad or not. How were we meant to know these posts were sponsored if there was not one single #Ad on them?

You only have to look at the comments on the original The Martinhal holiday posts from MOD and FOD to see that there were countless comments from people questioning if their gushing posts about Martinhal were either because: (I) this was an #ad for Martinhal, or (ii) they were making a genuine review that we could trust. All these legitimate questions were ignored by MOD and FOD. Meanwhile the people asking these legitimate questions were labelled “trolls” by other followers, because “of course this isn’t an #ad, otherwise it would say so” (look back at the comments if the inclination takes you- clearly lots of people were misled). Six months later, it turns out the whole thing was sponsored in some way by Martinhal. I’m afraid that’s extremely deceptive that it wasn’t declared at the time.

The unmummsy mum putting “#ad” as the first word of any sponsored post is brilliant and a world away from FOD concealing #ad amongst 16 hashtags at the end of a post for a holiday that happened many months ago (which was never declared #ad at the time, despite countless questions).

I’m sorry to single out one example but it helps illustrate why followers felt they were being deceived and that feeling ultimately led to this thread (it seems many people felt equally duped by the washing machine incident for example).

Anyway like you say let’s move on. let’s agree to disagree and pass this over to Advertising Standards. I’m not a lawyer but from having discussed this with lawyers and from having a look at the CAP code, it does seem to me like there have been serious breaches of the Code. But obviously that’s for Advertsing Standards to decide on.... we’ll see.

It's so tricky as as follower numbers grow individuals can change into brands and there is no clarity over that on Instagram.
It's such a tricky area - I think this debate should probably stop mod and fod bashing as they are new to this whole thing too and there are many other folk out there making money through Instagram.
However I think once you start making money from Instagram you need to also think of yourself as a brand and a company with an obligation to be honest and upfront. It's a really weird situation as loads of people love following individuals but those individuals are also influencers and doing a hustle. People following need to be a bit less naive too and understand that there will be a lot of ads and sponsored stuff going on. Steep learning curve.

It just seems like bullying and very petty to be honest...there are far worse issues in the world of advertising and ethics these days than someone trying their luck to get a new washing machine. If you don't like the way someone posts, don't follow.

Yes agree, of course there are far worse issues in the world. But that doesn’t render this whole topic pointless. The Advertising Standards Code is there for a valid reason- to protect consumers. Lots of people have felt misled by these insta-posters and would like more transparency going forward. Many of us consumers are on instagram daily. Daily we are being encouraged to spend our money based on seemingly sham reviews which are made by paid sponsored instagrammers who are deliberately and deceptively attempting to pass themselves off as genuine consumers we can trust. That seems very unfair.

Anyway am leaving this thread now and seeing how Advertising Standards responds.

^ I totally agree with you Misshenty.

I haven't been on IG long enough to know the ones spoken of pre their advertising days. I know of MOD and at first glance I would assume that she is heavily sponsored by her 'random' pictures in front of a new washer/drier, not comb or fireplace. MP doesn't work me up at all. The only one I feel conflicted about is to many children. She sounds so lovely and has had a rough time but half of her posts talk of 'dire times, no food' then followed by 'couldn't resist buying these schoolbags in the CK sale'. To me if you have a donate button on your site you don't head off to CK/Liberty/Saltwater and then show off what you bought. But as I said she seems so nice and unassuming that I feel bad about it.

wisterialanes you are a brave lady restarting this again!

Mrs been in bed for 3 days with the flu so just finished the thread now! Not intending to be controversial, just sayin'

I used to follow MOD (for the cute twins), but she’s getting irritating especially with her stories. Just saying.

I don't necessarily have a problem with them getting free stuff and holidays etc (if I was offered stuff like that I'd take it too).

However, I find it really distasteful that they are "using" their children in this way and parading them in front of the world when actually, the kids haven't really had a say and don't understand the implications.

Mmm I feel the same and wanted to say so on this thread but I know it got a bit controversial last time. I'm finding the stories a bit forced and (perhaps this is just me being influenced by this thread) but I often feel she's fishing for free stuff. However, I did discover Susie V on here and I absolutely love her - she seems really funny and genuine and I don't get the feeling she's trying to get freebies. I also like Chloe Loves to Shop for the same reason - she does get freebies but she doesn't ever seem to be soliciting them, which I feel M/FOD do all the time and it's starting to look a bit desperate.

I follow MOD and FOD as I'm fascinated by other families and how they work. Some of the posts are cringey but if you had 4 dc and lived in London you'd probably be looking for other ways to make some ££!

But the posts that annoy me I just flick past. It really shouldn't be that big a deal.

Green the problem is that it's a car crash situation, you know you shouldn't look but just can't resist. I now look forward to FOD's stories for entertainment value (and no Simon, not in a good way) I love their house and like to pretend I have a kitchen like that too

I follow a few travelling families who clearly rely on Instagram for publicity and a few of them beg for patrons too as they add a new story about approx every 15 minutes. They must get so tired and fed up having to make the most mundane situation into a 'story'.