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.

This is what I can’t work out from what Justine’s statements have said. Take the Rodial. It’s not a new product, nor is it one that any MNetters have said anything about for years. Why suddenly decide to run something about it this week unless approached by the company?

Morning Justine

Out of interest, what drew you to the thread? Was it on actives?

I think Justine’s latest message was carefully crafted after having taken advice from a professional PR agency. It is good as far as it goes but:

1/ What will be the process used in the future for MN Swearsby?

2/ How are you going to compensate people who bought products which were missold?

3/ Have you reported yourselves to the relevant regulatory organisation, offered to pay a fine and work with them going forward?

4/ Will you submit a press release apologising for your site’s misselling or, at the very least, have a message pinned at the top of ‘active’ with an apology to the members of your site?

So far, the reply, albeit more conciliatory and better written, is not in any sense making up for the damage done. You have profited by misselling; that is not a trivial misdemeanour.

I'm glad this is in Active.
But we shouldn't be surprised , as said by others MN is not 3 mums sitting round the kitchen table and asking their teenage offspring for tech. support.
Or perhaps it is !!

It has not once appeared on actives as far as I can tell

Who can tell, but I got this ad over the weekend. Rodial, with a MN specific offer code.

Lol, it's definitely a £multi million company!

Well, exactly. Which utterly blurs any line that might exist in anyone’s mind between outright advertising and ‘editorial’ MN Swears By. We can’t know now how often MN had ads running at the same time as random brands were ‘recommended’ but it really does beggar belief to suggest that there is no financial incentive to select these products for editorial recommendation.

Unless I’m confused over Justine’s use of editorial here.

Is this thread now by hidden from Active?

Yes, it appears so 🙄

Not RTFT .
I thought MN had jumped the shark before but jeez it is Shark Hurdles World Record position that has just been broken.

I found it in Active yesterday, and it's still appearing this morning for me.

Can you screenshot because not once have I seen it

I see it in active, near the top

Who among us hasn't made a potentially illegal mistake while being rushed and lax? And then made exactly the same "mistake" again and again and again over years to the extent that a casual observer may very well conclude it was absolutely deliberate and routine?

Abject amateurism and outright greed. Not a good combination in a business.

👏👏👏

It's clearly deliberate but for some reason I find it difficult to care about it.

Heh I had a friend once. She was like a Pitbull when she felt crossed. She demanded utter prolonged grovelling from everyone who dared to cross her. Then wondered why people abandoned her.

Some people on this thread remind me of her. But with an agenda driving them, would you like a hair shirt as well?.

FWIW both threads haven been on active. Some people's imaginations do like to run away don't they..

They really have NOT. And posters have posted to test this, if you read the full threads. Are you an MN person in disguise?

It was the first thread I saw when I logged on today

@gamerchick ,

I don’t really know what you mean. I am not overinvested and nor am I looking for anything for myself.

But it is a basic of any reliable medium that advertising has to be truthful. There is a whole code around that in law to stop charlatans selling all sorts of snake oil.

Would you be accepting of a TV ad or newspaper ad that made a false claim?

I found both threads and I only use active and I'm on. I don't go to individual boards.

So yanno... What you're saying doesn't make sense to me

The first thread was absolutely suppressed in how often it shows in active threads over the weekend and it wasn't showing at all on trending no matter how many times posters added to it or how busy it was. It's not posters over active imaginations its the truth.