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.

😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 they're consistently using fake reviews

That flosser one is particularly bad, with the heading they’ve put above it “Hansung water flosser which is as reliable a piece of kit as
we’ve ever seen recommended”. Wow Mumsnet.

Oh gosh and the heater. I can’t believe how unlucky you are to keep hitting that 1% of examples 😬

I feel sorry for the poor hamster who got edited out of that heater review. (Which is also a no no, reviews should be kept intact and not meddled with to suit the narrative)

Lastly... I have been out enjoying the sun this afternoon and very much looking forward to the bank holiday.

Thank you so much OP for bringing this to our attention, I had no idea as I usually ignore those emails. CRM engagement rate will be through the roof this week! 😀

If the media don't pick this up and run with it, I'll assume it's because they're up to their necks in the same fraudulent practices.

What a despicable way to exploit Mumsnetters. I don't just mean those who read and trust the fake recommendations. If my username and words were exploited and twisted to deceive others I would be livid. Maybe they have been, I have no way of knowing.

Indeed

It appears to have been dropped from the Trending section of website too.

Given the volume of posts it looks like MN have done this deliberately. So clearly embarrassed.

I think they are expecting everybody will forget / get bored … return to complaining about dogs or Meghan.

And here is the linked post where the "recommendation" came from
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4920222-have-you-got-a-water-flosser-are-they-good?reply=129950594&utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=Prime%20Day%20Swears%20By%20Tuesday%20081024&utm_medium=email

Not one mention of Hangsun 🤔

Disappeared from the Trending box too

These are just egregious. No grey areas at all.

.

I’ve been following this today and it’s pretty astounding the people who just don’t get the point of the thread. It’s deception in order to promote something which I would assume will make them money.
My dd is older now but makes me wonder all those times I purchased baby products and saw the mumsnet approval badge on it and thought oh that good. I wonder whether this was factual or a money making thing.

Jeez it really doesn't look good, does it? Luckily I've never purchased anything that "Mumsnet swears by', but I have certainly considered it because I use the site and feel that their recommendations would be decent. Can't trust anyone these days eh? 😆

The failure to be transparent at this stage is really misguided. The apparently disingenuous attempt at damage limitation has just obliterated any remaining trust on this issue.

I've been guided by the Mumsnet Loves stuff for years. It was literally one of the few buying guides on the internet that I thought was worth reading. I won't trust it again.

Removing the thread from Trending so that people don't see it is poor form as well.

I've been on MN for 17 years. I honestly thought there was a bit more integrity than this.

Mmmm oh my god, stop fuckin lyin!

I had an email from Mumsnet today apologising about the mistake that they'd made!

MN Recommendation used to be decent items that were value for money and things people probably need in their lives. But I’ve long suspected MN recommended products are actually promotions that someone once said might be good and MN have dig up a few quotes. I bought an absolute bag of shite fake Oodie that I don’t think anyone ever would recommend. After that I saw the recommendations for what they are; Products that aren’t selling well, and MN is paid to promote.

Removing the thread from Trending is adding to the reputational damage. It's been a top 7/top 3 thread for most of not all of today, and now it's vanished from the 25 times I pressed refreshed.

Pathetic really. I expect a removal message soon.

It makes you wonder how many other online platforms are doing this sort of thing.

This is a long thread, but just to be sure I have understood...

Literally no one ever in the whole of Mumsnet history has recommended the Outsunny Gazebo or Russel Hobbs plug in fan heater.
Never even made a slightly positive post about them.

But Mumsnet for some reason needed to promote them as being recommended by Mumsnetters 🤔

So they found some quotes about completely different gazebos and heaters, edited them a bit so it wasn't obvious, and emailed out those quotes as the recommendations?

Yup. But apparently it's not a problem.

Woah. Complaint made to ASA. And to brands advertising. This is not ok. This is borderline illegal.

Everyone make sure you’re screen grabbing these examples and MN response as they will delete imminently.

As we’ve seen it’s already been ‘disappeared’ in trending etc

If everything was fine there would be no need to hide the thread so that no-one else could see it. Poor form.