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.

It is def a "sorry I got caught" apology versus an apology.

Terrible practice, sloppy ethics and very disappointing, absolutely undermines anything MN recommends!!
And quite possibly on thin ice legally...

Outsunny are a dropshipper or manufacturer from China of the stack 'em high, sell em cheap variety. OP is right to be concerned that her review of a generic gazebo years ago has been applied to what is very likely to be utter tat and MNHQ shouldn't be partnering with them. They've already infested the B and Q and Amazon websites with their tat.

Just to let you know @JoMumsneton the app the only people with different colour user names are you and op @

Well, I think we can all safely say we will never trust those emails again.

Shifty AF.

This is disgraceful. Deliberate false advertising and misleading consumers, pure and simple. I am going to report to the ASA as this is not ok. I would encourage others to do the same.

@EmmaJane2025can you explain how it was so obvious to you that they didn’t mean the gazebo in the photo with the writing underneath about a completely different gazebo? I’m always up for improving my comprehension skills.

This reminds me of those theatre reviews that say something like "An unforgettable evening — Daily Telegraph" and when you read the review it says "I will never forget this evening, it was the worst performance I have ever seen".

Totally agree.
At least I know now that the reviews cannot be trusted and are thus basically worthless.

The quote could so easily have been used without misleading by tweaking the ad, e.g.

[Picture of promoted gazebo]
"Why not try a pop-up gazebo this summer?"
[Wondermoomin's quote, including the bits that make it clear it's generic]
"We think you'll agree this Outsunny gazebo ticks all the boxes, at the bargain price of £45 ..."

This is a really weak justification for something so misleading

The apology is oviously disingenuous. It would be marketing 101 to think about how the message comes across. You'd have to be spectacularly bad at your job not to notice (particularly given the cropping of the context from the original quote as others have pointed out).

It's disappointing that MN is behaving this way. Its perceived integrity is one of its big draws, they should be careful not to squander it. The only saving grace is that this sort of discussion is allowed to stand - I think many others would swiftly remove such things.

Tbh, that editor response also sounds like a chat gpt prompted response. Wouldn't be surprised if the advertising email is produced that way, either.

How is it obvious? What words state that it is obviously the OP reviewing a similar one and not the same one being advertised?

But where is MN HQ? Why don't they post, with their usual blue banner?

I wonder the same

“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”
@MNEditor
According to your logic then it is perfectly ok for Shein/Temu etc to use Harvey Nichols/Harrods etc reviews & recommendations?🤣

They've posted to vouch for MNEditor being genuine so I suppose we are to take MNEditor's comment as MNHQ's final word on the subject.

Let's hope not as MNEditor's post just made Mumsnet look even worse.

I wonder if this will make it to the tabloids 👀

That's even worse. They're genuine and they still believe it's ok to mislead people if you didn't intend to? Where's the apology, the admission that more than once this deception has happened and an outline of how it is going to be put right?

“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.”

You’re apologising for the wrong thing. I’m not confused. Nobody is confused. I was mildly annoyed that you’d misused my words to advertise something I’ve never used, then I was angry that my thread got hidden, now I’m annoyed at the inadequate responses.

“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.”

My quote doesn’t help you with this goal as I’ve never used that product. Why didn’t you recommend people go to their local garden centre and look for a pop-up gazebo like I did? This is about what you’re being paid to advertise, not helping people to find great products.

“To clarify, there was not, and never is, any intention of misleading readers.”

It’s easy to retrospectively reframe your intent when you come under criticism. I see it differently, the wording was edited (cut down) to convey a specific, deliberate message.

“it is only ever our intention to provide honest recommendations”

…which this wasn’t, by any measure or standard. Nobody has mentioned or recommended that product. So this wasn’t really your intention. I believe your intention was to find some words within the MN community that you might be able to throw alongside a product you were being paid to advertise, and hope that using a genuine user was enough to give credibility as a freely given honest review; and moreover that linking to my post, knowing that few people would check it out in any detail, would be sufficient for you to shrug off any wrongdoing.

It’s only by reading the full context of the post that a reader can see I’m not recommending that product. You could have avoided misleading people by being clearer in the email. I believe MN knows exactly what they’re doing here.

Also - I think this clears up the AI hypothesis. So we at least now know that MN is actively choosing to do this, make of that what you will.

Well said @Wondermoomin I think we can all disregard MN recommendations now.

I agree - I would have some respect for them if they said "We got it wrong - we wanted to promote this gazebo but we didn't have a quote specifically about it so we used a generic one to make it appear that a MN user endorsed it as this is known to boost sales. We shouldn't have done this, and we won't do it again."

Oh come on, @MNEditor , you don't think anyone's going to say that's OK have read your disingenuous ex use do you?

Perhaps you could explain in detail your process for making sure that a years old generic observation by a random poster "is still relevant"

Do you email them to check?

I do actually believe you didn't mean to mislead, I think you just didn't give any thought to what you were doing and it didn't occur to you that anyone would be bothered. Did you receive training?

Oh dear...😔

They clearly hid the thread while they prepared their response. The response is completely dismissive of the issue. The quote gives the impression the OP is recommending the product. It is at best misleading.