Petty to boycott local restaurants due to this?

[Wife226]

We are quite fortunate to have a really good selection of restaurants where we live. Two are under the same ownership but are different themes etc.

One in particular recently re-opened after a refurbishment and there has been a string of local ‘influencers’ and I use the term lightly putting up posts of them eating there (multiple courses) with it being clear that they were given it for free.

They also did similar with their other restaurant in the summer.

Is it petty to no longer visit them as a result? I would resent paying full price whilst the ‘influencer’ (PT with 2000 followers) gets it all for free.

How can this possibly bother you? It’s just advertising and a free meal is cheaper than an agency. You’ll mean when it shuts and all you have is chains to go to.

I'm actually surprised at the number of pp who actually seem to think " influencers" are a valid form of advertising. No wonder these cadgers are laughing all the way to the bank.

Personally I refuse to buy from any business that proudly announces As seen on Tik Tok. because I despise Tiktok.

What is the point?
Lots of people use social media
People create content on social media that people watch
If they are good at it they get really popular and can charge money to advertise things
Just like a popular magazine or radio show or TV station can do
Resenting this is proper boomer behaviour! The world is different in 2026, traditional media is dying, get over it!

Well they are, because people consume the content they make! A business can get a lot more interest and revenue from a social media advert by an influencer rather than paying for a print advert or even an online advert (that will be shown to people using....social media!!)

Based on what? Do you know what the conversion rate is between giving an influencer a free meal and increased revenue? I doubt you have a clue!

We really didn't need to know about your husbands package.

If they spent the same amount they do on giving freebies to influencers on advertising in the local paper would you still feel like boycotting them?

Of course it's a valid form of advertising, simply because it works.

I'm not into influencers in any way but I find the attitude that it's not 'valid' incredibly naive - advertising involves showing as many people as possible your product so they'll buy it and influencers facilitate that. It's a simple, practical transaction, the same as putting an ad on a popular tv show. The vaguely moralistic stance on influencers is just silly IMO.

Amazing how people think it's poor marketing - they wouldn't do it if it was would they?! So many armchair non-specialists! Who neither run a restaurant nor know anything about what returns this form of marking is bringing to the place. As I said before, dressed up snobbery. So many independent restaurants are closing every week, how on earth could anyone (by which I mean normal people, not snobs) begrudge them using a marketing tool that works for them?

This is a slightly odd take. Plenty of people will be getting free meals in this and every other restaurant - owner's mum, every person who works there, random guests of the third cousin from Italy, probably every builder who was involved in refurbishment... Does it really make any difference to you? Do you like their food? Did you frequent them previously?

Unless you work in marketing your opinion really doesn't mean anything.

I understand that people seem to actually follow" influencers" . But why? That's what perplexes me. Why have people totally lost the ability to think for themselves? Make decisions for themselves. Express individuality. Why do people just want to do what everyone else does just because some some person on social media tells them to?
It's crazy.

Do you seriously not understand social influence?

I think you are being a bit naive /silly
They have to market somehow . What types of marketing do you find acceptable?

Long before Instagram existed, when I was still slim and glamorous, I remember being invited to all kinds of hospitality type events when restaurants etc reopened,.and I always assumed the hope was that we would help create a buzz about the the place.

The influencer may have a small following but of mainly local people. Or the business owners just like their content and trust them to represent their brand

Is this in fact a reverse?

Is that a not very stealth boast.

It's how they do their advertising. I don't get influencers, but I assume it works as they have used that technique before

Do you also boycott books, music, theatres and cinemas on the grounds that they send out free copies/tickets to journalists and bloggers to review? What about things like wine, food products, clothes, makeup, skincare products etc? They all get sent out as freebies by PR companies too, you know.

That's all the restaurants are doing. They're inviting someone to come along for a meal for the purposes of reviewing it and giving them some coverage. It's not a 'free meal'. The meal is a payment in return for the promotion.

Influencing is a marketing job. Successful influencers have built their following through skilled content creation, marketing knowledge, research, analytics and tech skills - they're not just being given free stuff for nothing. They're being paid to do a job. They get a free meal as part (or sometimes all) of their payment for that work - if you were doing work for the restaurant, you would be paid for it too.

There is a transaction between the restaurant and the influencer who posts about the food in exactly the same way as there is a transaction between a restaurant and a marketing agency who posts advertising leaflets.

I mean it will make 0 impact on them, their business etc so if it makes you feel good do it for you, they’ll not care in the slightest to not have your custom.
I done a stint in fine dining restaurants. If you are annoyed at influencers getting a free meal (which isn’t a free meal btw it’s a business transaction for advertisement and tbh for some of the levels of customs some of these influencers can drum up only a free meal is very cheap payment) you should see the A list celebrities we used to give free meals to. Literally people worth millions and millions of pounds. Money gets money. Half of them never bloody tipped either. Put me off their movies for life but get dinner party stories and I rarely don’t win the ‘most famous person you’ve met’ game

I'd only boycott them if the brocolli heads were bro-fluencing by eating food out of their Crocs while doing calisthenics

OK, what is your point then, because if its with the "influencers" grifting for something free, then I don't see why you're penalising the restaurant?

No I don't understand why people want to behave like sheep. Do you?

I agree with you OP, in fact I used to run a business that was always inundated with emails from Influencers offering their 'influence' in return for whatever we would give them. I used to reply that we are affiliated with a charitable cause and if they donate 50% of cost of their stay/meal/spa etc, we had a deal.

Not one of them ever replied (which was my intention) They are freeloaders for the most part and their entitlement is breathtaking. I wouldn't have been able to look at my staff had I decided to be taken advantage of this way, while making them serve the scroungers. I personally shun anywhere that uses this type of influencer in their marketing.

So you never get a recommendation from anyone, never see a service advertised and think 'I should try that,' never see someone's outfit and admire it, never hear about a great experience and think you'd like the same? How do you ever find out about anything? Divine inspiration?

Do you resent eating at a restaurant while whoever did their local advertising in another medium uses the money they were paid to eat at another restaurant 500 miles away?

I didn't and still don't understand why people from all over the country descended on Binley 'Mega' Chippy in the Midlands in their droves...

the likes of Danny Malin rated it as bang average...

and even it it was 'bangin', its not Alton Towers 😆, it's a mere a mega cholesterol dispensary

This is not social influence, this is social contagion - hijack of the frontal cortex via Tik Toksick