Continuing the discussion around instagram influencers and ethics

[bawbles]

Continued from old thread

@shesabelter the baby was unwell before they left and vomited! I had to unfollow as the holiday was so boring so sadly missed the fascinating home journey, but yes the baby was unwell a few days before and vomited.

The dark side of Instagram
cigarettesandcalpol.com/2018/06/08/more-than-a-writers-block/#more-5949

I hope people read this sympathetically as it seems genuine to me.

I'm on the verge of unfollowing the Meldrums

Used to like them but now it's so false

Completely selfish. Thats why we have holiday insurance incase of illness and needing to delay coming home. Im unfollowing too. No consideration for anyone else on that flight or in the hotel.

@boredandtired

Yeah he came up in mine too. I haven’t warmed to him like I did her but I found her refreshing in the main. Her #ads were always slightly awkward/less slick than most which I found endearing rather than offputting.

The TI didn’t bother me - she explained how it came about and it seemed one of those things. She didn’t strike me as someone who would belittle or demean her kids so it didn’t strike a chord like someone shouting ‘you idiot’ would.

Plus I viewed it as an insta nickname (meaning I didn’t think she was calling her that daily in resell life) which seems preferable than using kids real names.

First time I have ever had an issue with them but the sickness in the hotel and not staying in for 48 hours after and now the ill baby on the plane. Na selfish.

@bawblesahh I missed an explanation of how the nickname came about, it's just slightly unfortunate and maybe why she got unpleasant emails? Mutha.hood has big red and little red and I can't for the life of me think what their actual names are. I did recognise the school TI went to from her uniform though. But totally agree her ads and how she did them were very tolerable and didn't irritate like say Dorset cereals. Or fatface at the moment. And what's with all the fecking peonies.

@boredandtired

It was something like her DP referred to her as the Sexy Idiot when they first met because of something daft she'd said so before meeting her dd referred to her as the Tiny Idiot. The explanation was sweet IMO, I get it isn't most people's cup of tea but there was no malice and it's genuine which stands for a lot.

Don't worry, checkedcloth, you aren't missing anything.

@bawbles I guess there's one of the things about social media. When she suddenly gained loads of followers (I think someone tagged her and she got thousands) you suddenly have all these strangers who don't 'get' you and something as innocent as that is taken a different way. It didn't bother me, just seemed unwise.

@boredandtired

I watched Mutha.Hood stories tonight on your recommendation, I don't follow her. She did name her DD in the stories in between referring to her as big red but think it's much preferable sticking to nicknames.

C&C would post doing school run and her DD uniform was visible, she'd already commented what area of Bristol she was moving to so think she was a little naive in sharing too much.

Steph Don't buy her flowers regularly shares her DC in their [very obvious which school it is] uniform and I cringe a bit as there are so many people watching these things and it's surely better to err on the side of caution.

@bawbles I agree, at a push I can name the younger mutha.hood child but that's because it's the same as another insta kid! I do quite like Gemma but don't watch every day by any means. She's just had hair surgery and seems to come from a very genuine place. Some days she's a bit too bonkers and I wonder how people can just story day in day out. I don't follow Steph don't buy her flowers, mainly because the name really annoys me. Frankly don't be so rude and if you want to buy someone flowers bloody do it! There are times I'd rather a bunch of flowers to cheer me up rather than FOD's outnumbered, 4 cookies that cost someone £20 and some other nonsense I'm not remotely interested in (I realise I may have that wrong it just seems so pretentious when others have shared packages, I don't actually follow so guess I could be doing a huge disservice 🤣)

I started following Steph as someone recommended her when her dc3 was hours/days old. She storied the first few months and it was just lovely seeing her with this newborn and all the infatuation and hormones that goes with it. I’ve never looked at her business website, just went for the snuffly newborn moments. I also love buying and receiving flowers

There was another Mum that I followed for similar reasons but the she went all slimming world after a few weeks and I had to unfollow.

I think I might be a serial follower of people with newborns

@bawbles I know what you mean! Many of these accounts I started to follow with a very beautiful newborn!

Paperstraws I’m sure I’m not other than a holiday and some free stuff from the white company.

Just highlighting that there is a such a pretence around these accounts and it’s 100% about the brand, the advert and the revenue. That’s fine, it’s how they make a living, but just be honest about that? Don’t pretend you are performing some sort of public service with your squares - it’s a selling machine and that is all

That’s not even my comment! (I’m assuming mine has been deleted) as you say it’s the gall of it.

Why can’t they just be honest about what they are? Salespeople!

Yes, sorry I have asked for that to be deleted as there are a few user names visible.

@Paperstraws I have seen that Fatface ad and have no issue with it. It is very clearly marked as a paid partnership. I saw on the ASA site that she's been reported a few times - I suspect that she didn't use to label affiliate links as I've always noticed disclosure around adverts but her feed seems pretty clear now. I'd also agree that the brands (White Co, Fatface, NOTHS) seem a good fit. Considering her following I would bet that she gets offered a lot of ads yet the majority of her feed is house/travel/garden still. Lots of Influencers come under fire for the volume of paid posts v non paid but the majority of Rebecca's feed seems to be non sponsored.

Yes I agree that advert was very clear, so no problem with that. It's just not being upfront to say "I never hide ads", so again its the kind of thing that chips away at my trust in someone (which for me personally, is super important, maybe other people don't care about this as much). I just think it would be better to say something like 'I have to do ads to support what I do, I try to make them as visible as possible but I am still working through understanding the rules myself. I always work with brands that I think are a good fit for my blog". Her blog and photography are absolutely beautiful, no one can argue with that. It must take a lot of work, that is obvious.

@Paperstraws
I'd be fed up though if I had marked something so clearly yet still got asked. To be fair I don't think she ever didn't label the paid work but didn't mark the affiliates where she could earn commission. So technically she is right and is probably a bit touchy about it if she's taking to pains to follow the rules now.

Agree about her feed, she seems to have a natural eye for styling and she manages to make it look natural (I cringe at how contrived some posts from others are)

I feel like MOD is really making an effort to go back to her roots/the reason why people followed her and develop her feed with content that isn't so heavily focused on her kids or paid work. Fair play to her as she's obviously taken on board lots of the criticism which must have been hard to hear.

I did used to love the Gas & Air birth stories so it's nice to get that midwifery focus back.

She is disclosing affiliate links now, but I wouldn't say her disclosures are top of the class (compare her stories to Erica Davies's swimwear ones for example). I also don't think being touchy or blocking people for questions is the best way to approach your business, but hey ho.

I agree the feed is natural and very engaging, so seems a shame to put people off (or maybe its just me) because of the way you approach the rest of how you do business.

I also don't think being touchy or blocking people for questions is the best way to approach your business, but hey ho

Totally agree @PaperStraws it makes her look unprofessional. Influencers with that type of following need to accept that comes with the territory and handle it professionally and politely. Blocking should be reserved for genuine trolls/abuse not people wanting a discussion or asking for clarity

I think some of her hotel stays have been less than transparent on the disclosure front. She tends to write "we were a guest of x hotel" but that wording gives no indication as to whether the stay was completely free, partially discounted or paid for or whether there was prior agreement in place to blog/post about it. I've always said everyone who stays at a hotel is a guest so that wording really tells us nothing. I suppose it's the travel equivalent of #gifted.

I think a slight issue with these new Paid Partnership tags at the top of the post is that when they are used in the correct way, the influencers are not necessarily using #ad as well and we're so used to looking for #ad that now when we don't see it, we jump to the wrong assumption, forgetting to look at all areas of the post! I agree it must be frustrating to add a paid partnership disclosure in the absolute correct manner and still get pulled up about it.

Yes technically we are all guests of hotels so that doesn't really work. The clearer the better though, I don't see the point of skirting round the issue trying to disclose in the least prominent way - the brand doesn't get max benefit if you hide the relationship anyway I don't think.

I do have some sympathy for the interiors bloggers because when they are given something by a brand it tends to hang around and be featured in lots of photos. At what point do you disclose it was sponsored by a brand? Just the first time or every time? Bit easier with fashion because unlikely to see a fashion blogger feature the same dress 10x. Also fashion tends to be a more discrete image whereas interiors photos can show dozens of products - hard to distinguish which ones are featured centre stage and which ones are just background.