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.

I'm as eyerolly about influencers as they come, but I prefer the idea that local people got paid in kind to promote a restaurant than tech giants.

In fact, I once ran a successful scheme when selling products to schools. Rather than paying to advertise them, we offered local schools £50 per school of classroom equipment to attend an hour long sales session.

We made a couple of sales and they got a decent amount of free gear in compensation.

You seem to be deliberately misunderstanding. You must know that I wasn't saying that you'd admire what someone was wearing and then straight away go and buy the same thing, surely? It is very very obvious that what I was saying is that when you admire what someone is wearing you may then go and look for something similar or a version of the same thing that suits you. That's totally normal behaviour.

The idea that you're 'researching' something you buy makes no sense - where are you doing your research? Which might be seen to be impartial but anywhere else that provides product information is full of advertising. So any 'research' you're doing is inevitably being influenced by how much money companies spend on advertorials, reviews, etc etc.

I wouldnt call someone with 2000 followers an influencer, that just sounds like a random member of the public

People that get their knickers in a twist about "influencers" really annoy me. Firstly in order to know all these people are getting free food you must be consuming their content, so its a bit hypocritical to then be annoyed they are being asked to advertise a business

Secondly it is just advertising. Small businesses have to advertise in some way and to be quite frank its just a bit silly to decide your better than a business because they gave someone with 2000 followers a free meal

Well if they are total strangers to you how do you know their credentials?
In my experience people with very little knowledge are often the ones who talk the most , and with great conviction.
I just can't imagine a life where I would " follow" somebody. It's just an alien concept to me having somebody else telling me what I should or should not like or experience.

Do as you like. They won’t notice. 🤷‍♀️

I don't see the problem with influencers getting paid in free food to advertise a restaurant. Do you think they should do it for free? Presumably it's their job (or side hustle) and if they can generate enough followers to be useful as advertising they should get some kind of payment for it.
It's actually quite cheap advertising for restaurants and can be effective as it showcases their food. It's different if they're the type of influencer who goes around demanding freebies but if they're approached by a business because of their profile that's ok with me.
I follow a few food influencers and have found some good restaurants through them that i wouldn't have found otherwise. If you don't like the idea of eating in a restaurant that uses them for advertising, by all means don't go, but you might be missing out so why do that? I'd rather someone else tried them out first and showed their food.

How do you know they were giving these ‘influencers’ free food?
Do you follow these influencers?

I don't have the spare time or money to go around trying all different new restaurants looking for and hoping it's something I like, there's a guy I follow who does just that, and I have went to a number of places after them and enjoyed it without disappointment.

Do you understand how influencers work? They’ll post about the restaurant to their followers and hopefully the restaurant will get more trade. If you can do that for them, then I’m sure you’ll get a free meal too!

It was just a bit of fun
No one went expecting Michelin star cuisine, just a silly song and a visit to a "famous" chip shop.

Most 'influencers' have 5 followers, anything under 50k an no one is comping them a free meal

Most influencers lie btw. They don't warn £50k a week, otherwise why are they still begging for follows/likes

This is weird. Sorry. What a strange thing to get annoyed about.

Is this like the Bude tunnel? I haven’t been myself

You do understand that influencing doesnt work by someone just telling their followers to do something and everyone just does it like they are hypnotised? People arent just copying one influencer

An "influencer" produces content that is in some way interesting to their followers, perhaps its food, sport, gaming, lifestyle , music, they gain trust and worth from their followers. Their opinion is valued, in the same way as you might listen to recommendations. Brands will pay multiple people to wear an item of clothing or promote a certain music track and overtime people will be exposed to that item so much from people whos opinion they value that they will probably buy it.

The products arent crap, you can read reviews and probably find that product is good. But you will have been exposed to that product more than others of a similar ilk so naturally buy it.

I guarantee that you have been successfully advertised to. I guarantee you dress to a certain style, even if its not the absolute mainstream. You are in no way better than lthers

We've missed the point because there isn't one.

Why would you care if some people get a free meal?

I imagine asking influencers in actually works out cheaper than the marketing campaigns that used to be the norm..

Congratulations on your husband's wonderful package.

I expect this is one of those threads that OP wont be returning to.

It’s definitely cheaper and originally it was extremely effective because the parasocial relationships created trust. That trust is definitely waning a bit though. Younger people use SM differently too eg they are a lot more private.

My husband also watches garden ones. They demonstrate using the products so he can judge for himself.

I quite like some travel ones, just vicarious viewing really.

You soon learn the ones with similar budgets and interests.

I don't follow any "influencers". I can't imagine choosing a restaurant on the basis of a recommendation by an "influencer"

Noice

Well you clearly don't understand how social media marketing works then. And it's not going to capture everyone. But it can be useful to allocate part of a marketing budget to it.

It would be reasonable to boycott if you have an issue with the specific influencer or something they stand for. Brands are judged all the time based on the spokespeople they choose.

But "influencer" is such a broad term these days, I don't think objecting to using influencers in general is reasonable. Plenty of influencers do work hard on their content and produce stuff of value to their audiences. They wouldn't exist otherwise. And even the ones that seem more "vacuous" are just a modern, more socially diverse version of critics and mid-tier celebrities from the past.

I follow some local influencers who report on the local food, drink and leisure scene.

Why do I follow them?

Because they introduce me to new places, new menus and new events in my city.

Am I swayed by their hot takes on local restaurants and bars? Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, no. I watch what they share and I think "I might like to try that" or "that looks tasty" or "that looks interesting."

Twenty years ago, I would be doing exactly the same thing from the reviews of the free local glossy magazines that dropped through my door. We don't get any of those now.

I'm not really sure how this means I am not thinking for myself. I am capable of using multiple sources of information to decide how to do stuff. Are you not?