Ethics regarding Instamums and huns

[BurberryIsSo2000]

Homeisthecalm here, I think it's suitable to start a new ethics thread.

Since clearly, the one from yesterday isn't really about ethics but Clemmie.

Thanks all,

Keep it as nice or as stingy as you like

I'll start off by saying things should be clearly marked 'ad' or 'gifted'

Although the term gifted gives me the rage

Perhaps if discussions moved away from MOD and spoke more in general about IG ethics it wouldn’t feel so much like an attack on one or two individuals as the general topic is indeed an interesting one

It is indeed, the general topic is an interesting one. It only ever gets so far without turning back into MODFOD watch though

Mainly because Cady comes along to take it back to MOd!

finks - please read back. It's not me dragging it back. There was a great discussion going on about privacy earlier.

It's all just ridiculous. Of course she should raise her game and have a professional distance. Whenever she's actually done that the talk has virtually disappeared and been much like any other account. But it's like she got a bit carried away and forgot the golden rule of social media. Everything can and probably will be screenshot. Your posts, your DM's, your photos. All they need to do is post with care and thought and there won't be anything to discuss. Which makes you wonder if any of this is accidental.

Moving away from very well known profiles on IG, an area I find equally blurry is my friends who I know personally (and who have very small followings) that choose to have public profiles and tag all their kids pictures with what the kids are wearing hoping to get noticed by the brands. Quite a peculiar world we live in nowadays. And perhaps it is a result of successful influencers making it look all too easy to become ‘instafamous’ ?

Five; That’s the MLM element at work!

Sorry I’m not familiar with acronym MLM

fivelittleduckies, we're not far off instagram influencer being a bona fide job title. I'm wondering how mortgage companies will get that to fit in their answer choices on application forms. As a self employed textile designer, I struggle to find an appropriate option.

see, taking the conversation away from those who cannot be named or discussed

People tagging businesses into posts in the hope of getting seen - I think they see others and think "yeah, I'll have a bit of that." Thinking it's easy, as they make it look easy.
"Just a few pictures" etc - there's more to it than that. There'll be work behind the scenes going on. Maybe a blog post, or thinking up content for the next set of pictures, or if you youtube then there's editing etc going on.
Not as easy as that, though. so in that respect I do think that the big influencers make it look easier than it actually is and some think they can just rock up and get the same exposure immediately.

Multi level marketing, its the newer term for pyramid selling. It seems to be becoming the way advertising and marketing via instagram works.

fivelittleduckies, we're not far off instagram influencer being a bona fide job title

It is a bona fide job though. Maybe it'd come under advertising if you had to pigeon hole it into a comparable more traditional job name?

Agree the big accounts make it look easy. There are some much smaller fashion accounts I follow, that are starting to grow. You can see it happening when they begin to be sent products to try #unboxing, and then start being invited to 'breakfast meetings', ie seasonal launches of fashion brand ranges.

Five; MLM is Multi level marketing.
There are companies such as Juice Plus, Avon, Forever Living and more, who basicly make money from people bringing their mates in to be reps too. The people at the top make the money- there are threads in here about it.
The difference that people will argue with instagram is that you don’t have to pay to join but I think it is obvious that people are buying products to photograph and tag to get noticed...same concept!

Cady, its the freelance/self employed part that creates the grey areas when form filling. Advertising, working for an agency in house on a salary is one thing, self employed income from submitting invoices make mortgage companies panic!

Thanks for clarifying

Yes I feel so conflicted when I get advertised at on Instagram. I respect that it can be someone’s job nowadays but it certainly takes that veil off being ‘real’.

And I feel a little sad for friends’ Babies who are ‘brand reps’ and only being photographed to showcase some little boutique bib or romper.

The conflict is in that I want to support small businesses (often run by mums) and stay at home mums who want to try and earn a little themselves... but it feels a little exploitative which doesn’t sit right.

See, it's not me - we're all discussing sensibly and some pop up just wanting a watch and a bash!

Anyway. I think the smaller ones on some level, they still have a platform that brands will want to get in front of so they will be likely to be sent things. If they are declared ad, I don't see a problem with that.

I don’t know if I’d call the actual job of instagram influencer ‘bona fide’, in the original Latin meaning of the term!

I posted on another of these threads to say in UEA, if you run an instagram account as a business and are using it to market other peoples products, you now have to buy a license to do so, or incur a fine if reported. It's their way of implementing some form of regulation.

The license is quite expensive, meaning only the larger accounts will want to invest in paying for it.

Nipers- that's interesting to know re the license in other countries.

the MLM side comes into play via affiliate links to products. The swipe up seems innocent sharing, but it's not.

Did the ODs have to holiday in Thanet this half term? Poor bastards.

They're not in advertising, they're in 'hawking' and they don't even have to knock on your front door. They algorithm into your bloody feed endlessly, arrrggghhh.

I’ve seen a lot of influencers approach the advertising aspect. Some try to be very upfront and others are more discreet. But actually I think either way I feel a little sour at becoming a product against my will I’m a little more used to it now that it’s much more commonplace (as well as the sponsored ig posts that come up on my feed) and have learnt to ignore it as I used to ignore ad breaks on the television.

It will be interesting to see how all this develops though as of course countries will want to regulate such business more and new laws will no doubt become more specific to this scenario worldwide

It makes me feel really dumb the tagging brands... I actually did this a couple of times as I thought the brands liked seeing their clothes I had no idea it was to try and get freebies and followers #suchatwat

👆I fully accept that someone else has popped up and brought in MOd and it wasn’t caddy!

Back to the conversation, the idea of permits is interest and not something I agree with- who is making the money from this?