Influencer ethics on Instagram 2

[MadameGrizzly]

It appears we haven't quite finished workshopping the ethical issues of 'influencing' on Instagram: disclose of advertising, the exploitation of minors and the similarities to MLM schemes.

it also attracts perverts and screenshots, but it would probably be classed as bullying to point that out.

crossed posts with flyingbird

Yeah, he’s not daft, he knows exactly what he’s doing. I personally just find it pretty distasteful and morally questionable. I would never use my kids for a quick buck or a free holiday.

That’s my point - it’s funny because I’m sure he wouldn’t have printed out photos of his naked children and given them out to people but when it’s in an online platform he has no issue with it and it just feels, well, wrong.

I’m still resentful about buying an expensive hair product because a celebrity said it was amazing, way back in the days before it was known that people tweet and instagram for bucks.

Haven't commented before, but am following with interest and agreeing with the concerns people have about using the children so prolifically.

My concern, alongside their right to dignity and privacy, is the psychological effect it must have on them to have been photographed and recorded so much from birth. They have grown up with a camera phone being omnipresent in their lives, and much of their parents' attention being filtered through the phone. I'm certain that can't be healthy, especially as they must be inherently aware that lots of the very normal, ordinary stuff that they do (like sitting on the potty) is being framed for public view.

There's no precedent for all this as it's a situation that is only as old as smartphones, but I would imagine it would have some psychological impact. And that it won't be positive. (Disclaimer - I'm not a psychologist.)

the celebrity later admitted it was a paid advert

I think its their call (as in MOFOD) about how they use their kids online, but I also think its just safer to employ a threshold of not showing the kids doing anything you, as the adult, wouldn't also be happy having posted online for thousands of people to see.

He most likely would hand out photos to strangers if the strangers handed him back a £5.

He really has lost touch with what is appropriate. He has no USP apart from selling his children + clinging on to Clemmie's coat tails like grim death.

I would not be able to respect a husband/father who thought that was an appropriate way to make a fast buck.

I had an interesting experience the other day in relation to one instagrammer I follow - not one of the biggest ones but I think about 10,000 followers or so. She (and her partner, they are both journalists) regularly mention and post pictures of their kids. I was at a playground the other day (not where I live, I was visiting friends) and I saw a little girl and thought, oh I know her! And then I quickly realised I recognised her because it was this instagrammar's daughter. It made me feel weirdly uncomfortable both for me and for her. She's only small but I thought, I know things about you, who you are, and you don't know anything about me. So there's some sort of weird imbalance there. Imagine magnifying that by 10,000 or so. As I say she's small now but as she grows up ... I don't know. Why should anyone have ANY access to stories about who she is and what she's like without her permission? Why should we even know what this instagrammer's daughter looks like? I hadn't really considered quite how odd this all was until that point. I would emphasise that this particular instagrammer is not one who massively uses her kids as a marketing tool exactly but they are very 'present' if you see what I mean. I thought about how it would feel for people to 'know' my kids without 'knowing them' and it really brought it home to me that this feels wrong.

Not sure if this story of “digital kidnapping” has been shared before but this is just one of many reasons I wouldn’t want to share countless images of my children with strangers. (Appreciate it’s an unusual tale and that it’s not the type of thing that’s common, but I also wouldn’t want to ever put myself in a position where this COULD happen. The victims in this weren’t followed by hundreds of thousands of strangers either!) www.google.co.uk/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_57c67e46e4b078581f102200/amp

Abs I follow a family who travels a lot and she must do about 20 stories a day, mostly mundane stuff but recently her child was crying saying "no phone, no phone" (She was filming her at the time) and the mum made a joke about giving her extra cookies for more pictures. This really made me think about how the children who have grown up like this must get so far up having a phone/camera in their face constantly. Now that you mention it I wonder how this will affect their own personal boundaries regarding being filmed against their wishes.

I just had a look at the comments section for the first time (mod). Rabid defence from most of them. It’s a bear pit compared with here. No idea where the be kind / bullying tosh came from

It’s verging on dm in tone in places

We might not agree but at least it’s a conversation

Mod wasn’t too bad and said she did delete it, I guess taking on board the criticism. But it’s really not the place to question anything. It’s the kind of pile on on sm that I avoid

Yes she had deleted and she mentioned that she had after reflecting on it (so fair play to her for doing that). I only read that bit because I was fascinated by the debate happening under the post that was copied into the thread earlier. I find it bizarre that so many people leap so passionately to defend Clemmie to any kind of criticism. I know MN users get accused regularly of being 'over invested' in her feed but some of her followers are on another level.

Reboot yes that’s what I thought
Another level. Kind of nuts

That's a little bit heartbreaking lastnight There are definitely potential implications for personal boundaries. And for sense of self, and self-worth. Will they grow up thinking that things and moments are only valuable if they're staged, recorded, shared and liked?

These tiny children must also instinctively register a difference in their parents' IG/on-camera persona, and their switched-off selves, which must be unsettling. (I always remember being weirded out by my mum's telephone voice )