MN have used my quote to promote a product I’ve never bought 🤔

[Wondermoomin]

AIBU to expect MN recommendations, where they quote a poster/member, to be genuine?

I like being able to rely on recommendations in MN swears by and other emails. I excitedly opened an email with the subject “Big bargains for our most loyal Mumsnetters” wondering what MN could make me buy this time (I should probably get other hobbies).

Imagine my surprise to see my own username quoted there with a recommendation! Imagine my further surprise when I realised it was a post I wrote almost 8 years ago, and it was being used directly under a specific product to give the impression I was recommending it - and I’ve never even owned that particular thing mine was more expensive.

I don’t like posts being misrepresented as a recommendation for a specific product. It makes me question the credibility of other MN recommendations.

Hoping I’ll manage to attach screenshots.

PS my gazebo broke but I’ve replaced it. Still not with the brand I supposedly recommended according to the MN email.

Sorry. Didn’t realise we were playing top trumps 🙄

😂 feel free to check out my posting history. If I were a bot or MNHQ, I don't think my post would have been edited - twice.

To clarify, I wasn't excusing it - I think relying on third party agencies for something that can make or break your reputation is really, really stupid.

I'd compare it to them taking my words of unwavering praise for a Pot Noodle Bombay Bad Boy and using them to advertise Batchelors Super Noodles.

Obviously I jest (maybe).

You're absolutely spot on with your complaint @Wondermoomin I look forward to the outcome.

But does your 09.36 now trump their 09.33?

I'm going to say yes it does. Purely because I've had no sleep and I'm verging on lunacy.

And I think you deserve the win.

Not cool, MN

Yeah, they omitted the disclaimer that WM's effusive praise "does not necessarily refer to this particular brand of gazebo". Definitely misleading.

Oh try to grow up.

Random people have all said different things. It’s not a conspiracy of covert spin. It’s been a lot of different chat since last night.

You don’t even know what HQ will say yet. There was nothing slippery about their holding message. At least give them a chance.

TBF, I thought “super noodles”
the second I looked at that gazebo.

What are the mechanisms? Is it just OP who can complain to the ASA about this, as it was her words that they crassly misrepresented, and can we all submit complaints?

I did try to put it up as per instructions.

Turns out that it was a load of pap.

I only bought it on recommendation from MN.

Just for info, you don't need to post on a thread to:

1. go back to it and see a deletion message
2. have it appear in your 'Threads I'm Watching' - just tick 'Watch this thread' and you don't need to fill up the thread with 'placemarking' posts.

Just for anyone that didn't know!

All this hand wringing 😆 surely this is the advertising company who have created the advert and not MN? Anyone else bought the gazebo because of this thread? I’m going to - it looks great

I got completely confused there with #metoo

That's something completely different. Certainly not a place marker (in my eyes).

MN are the publisher and procurer of any third party creating advertising content for them using our content.

They may have contracts to pursue with their advertisers but they are accountable for what they are sending/recommending to users. It has to be legal and honest, just like any other advertising.

Don't it's like trying to build a structure from noodles. Not even the good ones!

Any response from @MNHQyet?

Surprised it's still up now it's been seen by one of the team

Hahaha no! I just have reading comprehension abilities!

@Wondermoomin I’m not being “generous” at all, I’m using common sense

Not really. The only bit of the quote they used that sounds generic is the advice “the thing is to get one that…”
The rest of the quote is worded in such a way that, when positioned under that photo and link, makes it look like I’m talking about that particular thing.
With your reading comprehension skills and common sense, I’m surprised you don’t see
it.

The diiiiiiiiirty BASTARDS!!

So much for the 'AI' excuse 😂

As if AI need to go rooting for old comments to manipulate - their exact purpose is to generate words!

Next they'll be making up users to pin this shit on.

Oh, that is really unacceptable.

OP, I wouldn't get suckered into trying to explain why this is terrible to some of the suspicious "relax, guy, no big deal" posts that have appeared this morning.

Anyone with a brain finds this breathtakingly dishonest.

Apropos of nothing, Justine has previously disclosed that in the early days of the forum, her team used to chat under alts to stimulate discussion.

I’ve remembered that I really must install the dash cam that “Mumsnet Swears By” and see if it’s actually a bag o’ shit version of something that someone once liked in 2021.

I’m a marketer’s dream (until now) 😂

Hi

I'm the Mumsnet editor who produces the recommendation emails you receive, including last night's Discounts newsletter, so I'd like to explain my process.

I appreciate that the quote used to describe a pop-up gazebo last night was not directly applicable to the specific gazebo which was promoted, so firstly let me apologise if this has caused confusion or concern.

When products are selected for recommendation, our goal is always to share information which is useful to Mumsnetters and to help them find great products or bargains. We always try to use quotes that are as recent as possible and, where those are not available, ensure that a quote is still relevant. Where a quote may be used to recommend a product it is carefully selected to make sure that it is honestly describing either a specific item, or the general benefits of owning a similar item. We feel these quotes are still helpful because they describe generic merits of the product which apply to all versions. However I can see that we should be clearer when using these quotes - and should have added some explanation to the quote along the lines of "our users love the ease of using pop-up gazebos" to put it in its correct context.

To clarify, there was not, and never is, any intention of misleading readers. We also always make sure to link to the user's quote on the thread, so you can go to that conversation and make up your own mind based on what other users have said, with full transparency.

I hope this goes some way towards explaining our processes. That said, it is only ever our intention to provide honest recommendations, so going forward we will tighten up the process to clearly flag when a quote is being used to describe a similar, but not identical, product. We will also be emailing everyone who received last night's Discounts email to clarify the situation so nobody feels they have been misled.