Part 2: MN misrepresentation in recommendations: a depressing blend of abject amateurism and outright greed

[Wondermoomin]

Welcome to part 2. The quote I’ve added in the title is actually a generic quote about MNHQ not specifically about product recommendations, but it’s very eloquent and quotable.

Here is part one: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5326652-mn-have-used-my-quote-to-promote-a-product-ive-never-bought

And here’s a brief summary so far:

• MN were caught out, allegedly acting in breach of ASA guidelines among other things
• The thread was temporarily hidden
• MN then provided a few explanation posts saying that this was a one-off cock-up and sorry that we MNers were confused
• Then we were told that in 99% of cases, the quotes refer to the specific products being featured; in a tiny minority, they are referring to a generic product category and will make that clearer
• Several users easily discovered multiple other examples, suggesting that it wasn’t just 1% of cases, or a one-off cock-up
• MN went on an editing spree of their swears by/recommendations sections (editing about 64 out of 75 things), also suggesting it’s not just 1% or an isolated cock-up
• The thread largely disappeared from active and trending, suggesting it’s been suppressed
• MN says it hasn’t been suppressed, threads appear in active based on popularity and how new they are
• Another MN source shows that they do sometimes remove threads from active to give them a chance to “calm down”

Please feel free to use this thread to capture any other examples you find, to update on anything you hear back from ASA, to provide your own professional or common sense input.

If you don’t agree, it’s probably not the thread for you so please feel free to pass on by! An issue doesn’t have to be the most pressing matter of our times to be important, and I think it’s important that trusted brands don’t mislead consumers.

Mumsnet really is run in an amateur way isn’t it 🤣🤣

Might have been helpful to read both threads so that you understood the issues before diving in. Then you might not have looked so silly 🤣🤣

I love that "never having had an affair" is held up as some sort of unattainable standard of saintliness, rather than basic human decency 😅

It wasn't a mistake. Other posters have shown evidence that MN has been misusing quotes for false advertising for years. I'm amazed so many people believed those quotes. It's a business - they don't care about their users, they just want to make money.

I was misquoted in one of the emails. I had really liked a product, repurchased and it came in new packaging (tube vs bottle I think) and discussed it in my post. The quote only mentioned the positive part, omitting to mention that the version now available wasn’t as good.
I have clicked into threads via the emails and found that the posts are not as positive as they seem from the emails so I realised it wasn’t just my post that was misrepresented.

Is @JustineMumsnet or anyone from MNHQ coming back here to engage with questions about this, or has the final word been had?

Has anyone heard back from the ASA?

Not heard back yet but I suspect it will take a while. It's pretty shoddy that MNHQ have just ignored the thread and lots of the questions asked in good faith.

i called the ASA and it can take up to 28 days for an acknowledgement so I think a longer wait.

It’s not very professional I agree, but then the whole thing is run on a wing and a prayer, hiding behind the ‘oh we’re so busy, it’s so difficult, we’re doing our best’ mantra. Embarrassing really - if they had any shame that is 🤣

But there’s a reason sites like Money Saving Expert and PistonHeads were sold for reasonable amounts of money…they are professionally run on stable techology 🤣 I’m sure Justine would love to have the site valued at the sort of level that MSE was…

It’s understandable though - the forum format is an emerging techology and it’s complicated - it only started 40 years or so years ago so you can’t expect the busy people of MN to be all over it. Especially when they are busy making up reviews 🤣

Not a word, and I have had their weekly update for ages. What REALLY bewilders me, though, is why this doesn't seem to have been picked up by any journalists. You'd think the DM (DF) or someone would be all over it! Is is more legally complex than it at first appears?

There's quite a lot going on in the world at the moment, and an M&S cyber attack will get more headlines than a cottage industry forum breaking the law ;)

There may be a reciprocal arrangement with the DM - you can take stories or plant stories but no bad press thanks.

Yeah that's likely

Any updates on this?

Of course not.

Yes! I have had a reply from the ASA.

Dear [weirdoboelady]

ASA Complaint ref: A25-1290343 Mumsnet Ltd

Thank you for contacting the Advertising Standards Authority.
We deal with specific complaints about specific ads, with a view of asking advertisers to amend or withdraw ads that are deemed to be in breach of the Code. I appreciate that your complaint is in relation to an ad from Mumsnet Ld but in order to continue with your complaint we need to see a copy of the ad to which you object as we are unable to select content on a complainant’s behalf. We are aware of the thread which showed the issues you have raised, however we would need further information about the relevant ads in order to proceed with our assessment.

Please can you provide us with more information regarding the ad, such as the content that you object to, by sending a screenshot of the webpage (a photo attached to an email will suffice) or a webpage link. Any other details would be helpful.

It would be helpful if you could please get back to me by Thursday 22 May. If I do not hear from you by then, I shall assume that you no longer wish us to pursue your complaint and I shall close our file.

Please be assured that we will always act when a full assessment indicates that the advertising rules have been broken and will let you know if we do intervene. If, after receiving your reply, we decide that our resources need to be directed towards other issues just now, we won’t reply with an outcome or update you further. However, we shall keep a record of your complaint as well as any further comments you submit and take them into account in our regular intelligence gathering sweeps.

Yours sincerely

Cheryl Marasigan
Complaints Executive
asa.org.uk | 020 7492 2205 | [email protected]

_

If anyone feels there is a specific strong example of an ad, I would be grateful to receive it. Otherwise and additionally I will of course also send them a link to this thread.

PS This will not post, for some reason. I suspect it is the links at the end, so will edit these.

Damn! Too late to edit! But please, in particular @Wondermoomin , do send any more original links you have and I will send the reply to the ASA tomorrow.

So MN are having a fresh stab at this:

Mumsnet picks: what we're loving in May

The original quote that opened up this can of world was eight years old, would you expect them still to be diving back four years to provide MNer quotes for ads? See the Aspinall Mayfair bag ad, attached.

And a very tenuous 'recommendation' for a DM sandal.

https://www.mumsnet.com/articles/mumsnet-picks-may

It very much seems to be MN finding quotes to fit an advertising request, rather than being inspired by what members are actually recommending this month. The claim “we've found a few new favourites we feel are worth sharing” isn’t quite accurate.

‘Aspinal of London are asking "Which Mayfair is yours?" at the mo…’
[my emphasis]

“What we’re loving in May”, but it’s May 2001.

Typo: May 2021.

So they've learnt very little it seems?

At the mo clearly has a different meaning at MN towers...

Yes. As does “this summer”. They really don’t give a flying fuck.

They have learned to fudge the concept, so that these “picks” are either things that MNers are loving or things that MN Towers are loving. So that when you point out that nobody has raved about whatever-it-is on these boards for years, they can say “oh but we were just spontaneously gushing about it over the Kentish Town water-cooler this morning!”.

And who is to say that they are not all totally thrilled by the idea of a comfy-but-clumpy sandal for summer 2025? Thank goodness for that lukewarm recommendation from a Mumsnetter.

Maybe Justine meant their governance/compliance is lax and rushed? Perhaps “an intern” came up with the ideal of falsifying adverts and whoever signed off on it only gave it a glance, saw £££, and thought yeah that’ll do, the silly cows who read this s(h)ite will never notice.

They have fudged it, but they've also gone further than that, as can be seen with the Aspinall handbag.

I have had the same reply now as well, within the 28 days I was advised it might take to respond.

And helpfully MNHQ is providing fresh evidence for us to attach to our complaints. It also occurs to me that the advertisers might like a link to this and the earlier thread…as I’m not sure they’ll be happy they are spending money on made up reviews of their products. Perhaps they’ll take their legal obligations more seriously than MN and hit them where it will really hurt…their pockets ☺️

Oh @JustineMumsnet that's a poor effort isn't it! It's the same dubious concept just slightly watered down.

The weird thing is, there are heaps of products that mumsnetters do rave about on threads. Why not focus on those?