Continuing the discussion around instagram influencers and ethics

[bawbles]

Continued from old thread

I'm not surprised. It's become very obvious they have a deal given it's the only holiday company they ever use and they're so OTT in promoting them. Disappointing about ASA's response though - and Mrs M's bullshit about "always being transparent". I noticed Neilson has a sponsored thread on here at the moment! They're really targeting the Mum market clearly.

ASA just wrote to me that they contacted Neilson holidays who told them ‘ Neilson confirmed they provided Mrs Meldrum the holidays but as there was no obligation to make posts it wasn’t an ad. ‘
I also included the take over of Neilson Holidays Instagram feed but this was ignored.
Essentially MM can continue to be dishonest by using the ‘ no obligation to post ‘ get out card to avoid #ad.
Everyone knows it’s an unspoken rule if you want more free stuff from us you post about how great we are.
A pp mentioned MM has backed off a bit I think these complaints may have something to do with that.

So lemme get this straight...a holiday company gives you a holiday for free and the password to their IG account while you are on that free holiday, but you are not required to post any promotional material about that holiday while you take the reins? Got it. At least I know where I stand now with everyone involved: Neilson, the influencer and ASA. None of them come out of this looking great imo.

Chirpie, yes that’s it. I am appalled too. As long as there is no ‘obligation ‘ to post it isn’t an #ad.
Big con. Free stuff is only given to big grammars because more people are there to see their posts.
If MM took a Neilson holiday freebie and didn’t mention it there would be another one. She only got so many free holidays because she posted so often. It mind blowing how devious these people are.

• typo there wouldn’t be not there would be

Ugh, and lulastic has commented some vacuous ‘rise above the haterz’ comment on Mrs Meldrum’s post. Lulastic lives in a yurt and believes in organic everything and living sustainably. The opposite of the Meldrums’ Primark hauls. But she is also a YouTuber trying to drive traffic so apparently Mrs M is wonderful. Unfollowing her.

I reported not Craig David and got the following response from the ASA:

^Having now reviewed the ad in light of your concerns, we have come to the conclusion that it was likely to have breached the Advertising Codes (“the Codes”) that we administer. I am writing to let you know that we have taken steps to address this.

We have explained your concerns to the advertiser and provided guidance to them on the areas that require attention, together with advice on how to ensure that their advertising complies with the Codes.^

So even where there’s a clear breach the influencers don’t need to worry as there is no punitive action. Hardly an incentive to be transparent.

And the Mrs Meldrum thing is just skanky and devious.

I give people the benefit of the doubt as it’s a relatively new industry and influencers are learning. But consistently refusing to own up to freebies/payment in kind is deliberately dishonestly and absolutely should be called out. Although anyone calling them out is called a nasty jealous troll but trolls can be cute (used to collect the spiky haired little critters)

I am completely disenchanted with the whole thing now. I started following Mrs m on YouTube a couple of years ago as we had kids similar ages, and it was quite nice to see the honest difficult days at times when they don't sleep or you have just had a shit day! Since this is now her "career", it is so far removed from what it started out as and I just can't watch it anymore. I don't want to follow and support her business anymore. There is limited transparency and you know what if someone said to me here have a free holiday, of course I would jump at it....but I would be honest and say it was a freebie and not act all shady.

I can't stand the whole fan girl "haterz going to hate" mean girls mentality. Different opinions are a good thing and as a business you need different opinions to grow. On a more general note, if people want to have this as a career, as a business they need to listen to all opinions not just the gushing ones (I, of course, don't mean listen to the actual weird troll ones which insult innocent children and vicious personal insults)

If Not Craig Davies is who I think it is, I can't see that the guidance has had much of an effect. These threads have been a bit of an eye opener as to how useless ASA is.

As you say, bawbles, if the ASS are kind of relying on influencers and advertisers to do the right thing once they’ve had it explained over tea and cakes, there’s little incentive for the dishonest to change their behaviour. Normally a business would be fined for breaching regulations.

I've noticed some of the Instagrammers this week have been clarifying their use of the 'gift' hashtag . I wonder if they've been contacted by ASA. One big interiors account (little build) has done this. It's ridiculous that they can hand pick their 'gift' then post about it, story it, then beg followers to check out the link and this isn't an ad??? And it's disingenuous to say you do all this because you want to support small business!

The savvy ones of course are now jumping on the new 'mumsnet' bandwagon of 'we love transparency'. They know ultimately they have no bloody choice!

tbh I don't mind if the ASA do an informal "sort yourself out" notice and the influencer complies and changes their behaviour. It gives people who are just a bit naive and ill informed a chance to change. I think there should some kind of sanctions for people who don't respond to this approach and continue to bend/break the rules though. I'm sure ASA doesn't have the manpower to monitor whether influencers do change though, and the whack a mole approach isn't working so it is time for a change. I'm sure the increasing level of reporting must be ringing some alarm bells at ASA HQ that they need to get on top of it. There are thousands of reports each year and the numbers are rising and MN users are a minuscule part of it really but I definitely find it really interesting to hear what ASA say about the stuff that we, as consumers, find blatantly shady. I think it is quite revealing in some ways as to how ASA is out of touch with an increasingly skeptical consumer base exposed to influencer marketing tactics.

Yes I'm torn between a round of applause and a massive eyeroll for the "transparency is so important to me!" converts you see so far more frequently now on IG .

Mrs M clearly wants people to think they have the kind of cash to afford to go on 3 foreign holidays between January and June. I think a big part of the image they try to project is that they're wealthy. Otherwise I really can't see why they wouldn't just say it's a gifted holiday. I mean they're bloody lucky to get them and I'd take it too if it were me, but what's the point in hiding it? They've come out of this really poorly. None of this will be mentioned by them though. It's just the personal attacks that are highlighted as the reason for her hiatus.

There's no way she doesn't know about these threads though. It was pretty obvious a previous poster (who I'll not mention as my comment will be removed again!) was one of them or someone very close to them.

Does Lulastic live in the tent all the time?

It's ridiculous that they can hand pick their 'gift' then post about it, story it, then beg followers to check out the link and this isn't an ad???

Completely agree. To suggest these these gifts are just showing up in the mailbox completely unsolicited with no prior contact or discussion beforehand is disingenuous. If that were the case, how come they're able to go into so much detail about who runs the business, what other products they have and highlight key points about the product they've been sent. And share a discount code in some cases! I've reported one who's sharing discount codes and clearly using the company's verbiage to describe products (to that extent that it reads like a full blown ad) with no mention of gift, ad or sponsored. In a way, I think some of them are making things even murkier now.

Disco - yes, for several years now. A far cry from Neilson beach holidays!

There was a group of them on the recent Neilson jaunt.... who paid for the friends?

Mr M has just said on most recent video ( to the kids) we need to book next years holiday...., hint hint

Not really taking a step back! But sympathy already gleaned...

Wow im genuinely disappointed that holiday was gifted when she kept coming out with how she is transparent. Absolute bullshit. Why not just tell people so they dont aspire to be like them. I bet theres people who have got themselves in debt by sticking a holiday on a credit card after seeing their posts. Its completely shameful to not declare it as gifted. Also puzzled why Mr M said hed just been to pay the room bill. Clearly trying to pull the wool over everyones eyes when it was likely just room service bill. And the gushing posts about the manny being amazing, all fabricted bullshit.

Next year's holiday! They'll be on another Neilson one this year for sure.

Totally shady! Will be unfollowing Mrs M. What a pair

🤥