To think Boden have made a huge mistake.

[welliesandpuddles]

They've just put out a new mum video, showing lots of successful instagrammers and their children head to toe in Boden.

However, these IG people and children are rarely dressed in Boden, if ever.

But just because they've got a lot of followers Boden hand it all out to people who don't actually treasure the brand.

There are 100s of dedicated Boden mums who treasure every piece of Boden, why can't Boden ever reward their loyal customers rather than give it out to people who don't even buy it.

I know a lot of people are outraged about this. When I look at IG I search the #bodenbyme and always see lots of normal families without 300k followers dressing their littlies in Boden. It's a shame that brand lovers never are appreciated when they are what keep the business going, if I was Johnnie I'd be getting hold of these families and working together to promote real Boden loving Mums and not just people who are in it for the cash or freebies.

This is brilliant

Wow, I am amazed by the instagram mums. I mean not so much by them themselves (they are clearly former brand managers desperate to monetise everything in sight and flogging themselves to the audience like billyo, and why not if they want to); but more by the hordes of sycophantic followers who seem to comment on every photo. Who are these people who are hanging on instagram kissing up to complete strangers whose job is basically to promote free stuff?

At least some of the original recipe/life bloggers like Orangette or the people who did mornings and evenings were talented and the blogs were lovely to look at. These ones basically just seem to be flogging velvet bedsteads and despair.

Just go to Cornwall wearing Boden and stand next to David Cameron- you will be in the news

Oh wait now that he is no longer PM he doesn't have to wear Boden or holiday in the UK.

Mind you- wherever you go wearing Boden chances are that 3 the people are wearing the same outfit.

Normal families? What are those like?

Teen: filthy chucks, skinny jeans, iPad prominently displayed. Pre-teen: pyjamas unless forced to change. DH and I: sporting a glass of plonk each. Not Boden material, but otherwise quite normal.

filthy chucks

Chickens or shoes? Chickens is right up the Boden street

I just love Boden, tee hee

So you’re lighting is right, how about make up, background, pose etc? Have them all correct?

I had a look at the mini Boden catalogue the other day. It was hilarious. £30 for a baby's jumper with a dog riding a dragon on the front who wears these clothes?!

I actually do.

I used to work in photography.

Unfortunately shoes not chickens. You're right, we'd be much more Boden if he discovered his inner farmer.

Hey, I wear Chucks! Mine aren't filthy, though. They're pink. And sparkly.

And you know exactly what Boden wants?

Such a shame you don’t want to feature/ get free stuff then, your average family snaps are of terrible quality, and really you’re average person doesn’t care

who wears these clothes?!

Mini Boden? Those who cannot yet protest or are too young to care.

Once they can, you will be walking behind an irate teen in TopShop, because you carry the credit card. You will feel fat and frumpy, but there is a shared-suffering solidarity with the other middle aged mums trudging behind an equally irate teen. Any item of clothing you touch "Look, PFB!" will turn instantly unwearable, so make sure you suggest the worst ones. Gone the Halcyon days of dogs riding dragons.

Stop being horrible.

The whole point of advertising is to encourage people to buy things, not to give stuff for free to people who would otherwise spend money on it. It undermines the whole point of having a shop. Instamums are parents - but they've become famous because of being parents and writing about it. Mostly they were bloggers first, who happened to have done well, seized a zeitgeist and been rewarded for it.

And actually, Boden is really good for 'giving back' - they send vouchers out at change of season, and if you buy enough they do get you on their market research panel for which you're rewarded in vouchers.

Clearly you just don't buy enough Boden 😁.

(I don't look slick in my Boden. I look covered in bits of biscuit, snot and distressing unidentifiable white stuff that looks like jizz but is far more likely to be yoghurt. It's a similar look to the one I rock when I wear clothing by Tu when I'm around my real-life children).

I actually think Boden kids is much nicer than the stuff kids actually wear, OP. Unfortunately they won't be seen dead in it once they get a say.

But passionate about Boden...flogging velvet bedsteads and despair.

What sort of weird thread is this?

a dog riding a dragon

What would actually be the harm in the Mum campaign of having 50% Boden lovers who love the brand and 50% famous instamums? Isn't that a win win - happy profits, happy customers.

Assuming OP is for real, how would it make good business sense to just give out free clothes to unknown randomers to keep their customers happy?!
The reason companies give products to mums like ones on Instagram and blogs is because of their huge, engaged audience. Usually the exact audience that they're wanting to get in front of and interact with/pull in new customers.
Say you've got a lot of followers who are parents. They may have never heard of Boden and think "ooh, I like that dress/shirt. Wonder where it's from?" and check out their stuff and potentially buy.
It's advertising.
It's not just a "freebie" either, as the person receiving it will be expected to tweet it/instagram it/write a blog post/promote via social media etc which can be quite time consuming.
Just giving their clothes away to people with no social media engagement would be pretty pointless really and a surefire way to lose money!

Sorry but it’s true, let’s just say Boden decided to get normal family photos, what is easier going through thousands upon thousands of photos that are generally like 95% low quality and unsuitable or having a precompiled list of possible candidates sending a few emails and sorting out a photo shoot, if 5hey even do that, often it’s probably just sending out a contract and clothes and the IGers shoot the photos.

Pressed send too soon. Agree with whoever it was upthread who said that they can't win whatever they do.
It was only the other week that people were completely outraged on here that some apparently weren't declaring that it was an ad (which you're supposed to do.)
Now we have someone outraged because it's an ad and how very dare they do an ad and they should have "free" clothes too.

Yes but who wants pre compiled. Why not throw a bit of fun in! Kids, being kids!

If you want to be a Boden model, it probably helps to have a comedy dog. Just saying...

Got to be a friendly yet aspirational dog. Labradoodle too neat? It needs to look autumnal and ill behaved in a fun, middle class way.

"Treasure the brand" is going on a t-shirt, for sure. One with polka dots.