Anyone seen the MN microsite?

[hunkermunker]

here

I've a couple of comments about it - especially the bf section (surprise, surprise!).

And the weaning section.

I'm not saying I agree with the content but that it is clearly an 'advertorial', so should be read/ignored as one. "Expert" endorsements are common.

Surely, not everyone believes that Nick Nolte (or whoever blokey was?) drinks Gold Blend.

But Nick Nolte doesn't have his own thread, does he?

Ah! I take the point - dumb blonde moment, sorry. I though everyone was on about the advertorial (yes, it is a naff marketing term).

I agree that product advertisements should not be included in chat. It'll be interesting to see if her answers are from a midwife's perspective or an Avent sales person perspective.

I'll get my popcorn and watch I think!

Bit sad that every question has to be answered with a recommendation to an Avent product.
Looks quite pathetic really.

I bet the Avent marketing/PR department will be panicking when they see this

LilRedWG - and there was I thinking Thierry Henri drives a Renault!

fortyplus.

Advertisements are fine. They're annoying a lot of the time, but they're fine.

I get that "MN is a business".

Advertisements dressed up as caring and expert advice, that just so happen to recommend items by a single manufacturer are devious.

And having them linked to chat is awful.

Things have changed a lot around here in the last year or so.

And not for the better, in most cases.

I agree HC
Things have changed
I suppose MN is one thing to its owners and quite another to its users
That fact has been quite cleverly controlled by MNHQ but I guess that can't go on forever

I was going to post, but Pruni said it all:

"Why do you think we're here? We could be reading this kind of thing in Practical Parenting or toddling down to our HV - but no, we choose this way in order to bypass advertising and crap advice delivered with a smile."

Apart from the fact that I'm not actually here very much now, that's it exactly.

"Yes we are going to continue with this because we have entered into some sort of contract I imagine "

LOL! says it all

hang on.

heard it 2x before.

Once from Netmums and their Nescafe debacle

but once before on MUMSnet in their Aptamil debacle - quite a while before the Netmums one blew up.

I was a bit at it too. Too commercial and too loaded

at this - it is the sort of thing I rip out of magazines as it annoys me so much, that so called advice is really advertising.

Why I think MN shouldn't use it - because it's basically trying to con people, into not taking impartial advice, but to spend more money that they otherwise would on things they may or may not need, with no research as to what is actually best.

The quote that says it all to me is this ....

"That is why we have linked up with Mumsnet to provide useful baby care advice on areas such as feeding, sleeping, wellbeing"

You see - that's what I thought talk was all about, but getting more than one side - MN often says that threads are 'self-policing' - and that other posters correct errors or put other points of view, but there is no policing of this. This woman could suggest that we all need Phillips Avent bottom wipers, and no-one would disagree!!!

Sorry, I hate it!

My issue with it is that it is very one-sided and not in the free-for-all, debating, open-minded spirit of MN.

For example, if someone posted in Sleep that you have to leave a baby to settle themselves, plenty of us would be able to chip in that this really isn't always the case, it doesn't work for all babies (and certainly young ones should never be left to cry), there are other options, etc.

I work in magazines where we see a lot of this kind of advertorial, and it is seen as a necessary evil when ad revenues are essential to keep the business going. However, I think if you genuinely want to offer useful content to MNers then you have to make sure that there is no bias towards to products of the advertiser.

it kind of reminds me of the Cow & Gate/SMA/Aptamil 'Careline'. very and

on a more positive note, it means i will be spending more of my time giving advice in RL than on MN. was thinking of doing my BF training for a while now - this feels like the impetus to take it on seriously.

There must be other ways MN can raise some money, surely?

I appreciate that advertising probably draws in the big money but for example why not

Remind everyone to renew their CAT subscription

Display the shopping partners/discounts on the talk page, not just the home page

Didn't MN have its own products - books etc? With Christmas coming up I'm sure people would be interested buying them.

It does feel like ITV at the moment.

Have they changed the wording? Because my version says "I really want to keep breastfeeding. Is there any way to make it more flexible?" There's no mention of feasible at all.

Given that Avent sell/make bottles and breastpumps and not milk, I doubt that they care very much whether you put breastmilk or formula in the bottle. In fact, if you use EBM they'll most likely make more money by selling you a pump too.

How do you find this microsite anyway? Do I not see the link because of my ad blocker?

As promised last night we've been in touch with Philips Avent today and they naturally don?t wish to offend anyone. So we have agreed that we will pull the thread from Talk which asks members to post questions for Vicki Scott. Philips AVENT are keen to point out that Vicki has been working with mums and babies for nearly 20 years in her capacity as a qualified midwife, nursery and maternity nurse and so they are confident that Vicki is adequately qualified to provide the advice that she gives.

Anyone who wants Vicki's advice will be able to send their question from her promotion page in a little bit.

Essentially, as I said last night, we do sympathise with the generally-expressed view that mixing up Talk and advertorial in this way is not a very good idea. Apologies - we won't be doing it again.

That's good news Justine, thank you.

And did they have anything to say about the incorrect advice re how long breast milk can be stored?

I know Carrie passed on that query yesterday Can'tsleep - so I'm sure she'll be back with an answer before too long.

I'd still like to know what breastfeeding qualifications she has.

However, thanks for listening to us and thanks to Avent for realising that this is a very crass move.

As everyone else says, surely the USP of Mumsnet is that we can get the advice and support we need as mothers without being hassled and compromised by bloody 'infomercials'?

Look at it this way- at least she holds a qualification, thats a bonus on some parnting guru types one could mention.....

"'Avent Airflow bottle - easy to combine breast and bottle feeding'"

ok - unless I'm mistaken EBM is usually offered in a bottle....."bottlefeeding" isn't actually the same as FFing.....as there are people who ONLY give EBM in a bottle.

And it doesn't say may it more "feasible" is says make it more "flexible"

And since when did buying Avent bottles and other bits for for bottle feeding cost £130

FWIW - I used Avent when I FF DS2......because it was the only brand I really knew of............from breastfeeding DS1