Bloggers and brands

[homebythesea]

I love blogs, YouTube, Instagram etc but sometimes do wonder what's in it for the brands especially regarding blogger events.

Straight up reviews of things they get sent I totally get- they try things on/ use a face cream, wax lyrical about how great the thing is, people click through and buy said item. Straightforward advertising. No problem with that at all.

But when a blogger is invited to a dinner, or night away at a hotel, or a movie premiere by a brand I just don't get what is worth the expense? From the blogger perspective they get a night out and a goodie bag and maybe even paid to attend. But what does the brand get in return? A brief tag on an Instagram pic, some photos of beautiful place settings at dinner......but not necessarily sales?? These events must cost thousands to put on.

Hopefully someone with some knowledge about these things will enlighten us!

That's just a bit weird. Are there no circumstances under which women can criticise other women? Is it ok for us to criticise men? Or should we criticise nobody? This is tricky because I have opinions and stuff.

I'm not criticising gender, far from it. I follow some male instagrammers and see it there too.

I just want transparency on paid content, show me what's really your opinion and what is paid advertising disguised as opinions.

It's not hard.

*my gender

Ok, I'm somewhat lost on all the BAA action.

The 'twats' comment under the KF instastory (comments? was there mention it was said twice upthread or am I making that up) is still there last time someone checked and made a screenshot. Is it now gone, or still there?

When ED made a post about being open to the debate this morning (can someone link it, or is it on Instagram?) BAA did the 180 flip and commented 'transparency is good' but then that comment has been deleted? Or is it the comments pointing out the hypocrisy that were deleted? So ED is fine opening up the debate about transparency but lay off the PR company that gives everyone their freebies? Apologies to ED if BAA is able to remove their own comments, I'm going with the assumption that only she can delete/moderate comments.

It fucks me off no end when the whole ‘Women not supporting other women’ shite is brought into this kind of debate. The same thing happened on the recent instamums thread. Total bollocks.

It’s possible to delete your own comments from Instagram botemp

Thanks Paintbox, apologies to ED once more with the assumption.

I've never understood the 'women not supporting women' spiel, someone better educated in classical feminist texts will have to explain it to me because I'm sure it's one of those pulled out of context reasonings that lazy people pull out when they don't actually want to engage in any form of discussion.

If you delete your own comment does it delete all the other comments in that thread then?

I'm all for women supporting other women.

If that leather jacket you've just posted was really a gift and if there's no way you'd have spent your own money on it then tell them and help them make well informed decisions about where to spend their tightly budgeted cash.

If the reason you look a million dollars is because you've just had a makeover and your hair done and the nanny's done the school run all week and all your images are photoshopped then say so.

And when you hear fedback from other women about your business then treat them with courtesy and respect, even if it's a message you didn't really want to hear.

Deleting comments on Instagram is one by one, deleting one doesn’t delete another

Flo -> exactly 👏🏻

Agreed flo

Well, it's just like gaslighting isn't it? I'm going to accuse you of not supporting me rather than actually listen to what you are saying and address the issue.

If you run a fashion (or other) blog and you are recommending a product that you like, it is deceitful to not disclose if it was a gift. You are passing off an advertisement of something as a genuine review.

Mother Pukka has a post about how IG is so empowering for women because you can choose which squares to follow and can curate your own magazine effectively, but I don't think it's as simple as that as IG marketing is so insidious.

Many bloggers and IG started out on maternity leave, like you. They used to seek out bargains in Zara and H&M which they would pass on to you as tips. You liked seeing how they styled them and what they were up to, and they felt like your online mate.

Then they started wearing fabulous trainers, they cost £300 but gosh they looked great and so did the cashmere jumpers. You started to think maybe you should invest in something like that because that's what all the cool mums at the school gate were wearing, right? You got one of those smiley leather bags that everyone was wearing for your birthday because you deserve it, its bloody hard work looking after children. You tagged the designer because thats what everyone does, and they may even re-gram your picture, which would be cool.

You don't feel weighed down by it, but there is a nagging feeling of inadequacy that you don't have the latest leopard trainers and you really want them.

Its only when your favourite blogger starts tagging things as gifted and showing that their shopping trips were a paid partnership with M&S that you may start to think that maybe you have been sold a pup. By that point its too late, its your mate! You can't unfollow your mate! Everyone needs to pay the bills!

IG marketing has sucked people in, I would have felt more empowered if these disclosures were being made at the start and I don't think the IG community of bloggers have quite embraced why this is so important yet...

ithasbeenalongtime Brilliantly written and absolutely true

WRT the Instagram intrigue, the person that posts can moderate/delete all comments, correct? And individual posters can delete their own comments on other people's posts but not each other. But the entire conversation surrounding BAA has been removed from ED's post or just the BAA comment?

I think gifted items blur the boundaries in so far as we can no longer ascertain if an item is highlighted for purposes of creating content or when people would have otherwise put their own money towards something. We all experience this to a certain extent, we can be overjoyed with a bargain and go on and on about how amazing it is but rarely would we be that pleased with it had we paid out the full price. Price is an important psychological contributor to how we view and value an item. Nothing really is free but there is most definitely a thrill to be measured with getting items for free.

Then there's also the vast variation of prices, a movie or book critic really doesn't need to take consideration of the price muj as they're pretty much set with little variation between them, price isn't a deciding factor to whether something is worth reading or watching. That they get it all for free really isn't much of an issue in that regard. The same can't be said for S&B purchases.

Oh, and obviously, everything Flo said.

Hello! It’s Erica here (Erica Davies). Hope it’s ok that I join in?

This thread has been so interesting and I hope me debating it on Instagram has opened up the conversation over there a bit. Thank you so much for your positive comments too.

I just wanted to jump in re the deleted comments issue. I haven’t removed any comments from the thread (I wouldn’t - there’s no point having a debate otherwise!)

I think what happens is that the related replies posted beneath that particular comment also disappear when something is deleted. I can only presume that the user in question deleted their own comments, which then meant the subsequent replies went with it. But further down there are another one or two separate comments directed at that particular user.

I just didn’t want you to think I’d opened up the conversation, only to then edit it!!

Thanks for clarifying that, Erica. Apologies for starting and continuing the speculation, I just wanted to know what's what and IG has changed a lot since I last was on it (pre Facebook days) so my knowledge of the platform is limited.

Very encouraging to hear you're opening up the debate and of course you're welcome to join in here. We had Jane from British Beauty Blogger come on a similar thread (related to beauty bloggers) and she was very helpful in getting us all to understand the issues with the ASA and also the pressures exerted by brands and PRs.

What I'm failing to get my head around is why would BAA delete the 'transparency is good' comment and leave the 'twats' one up???!!! (On the assumption it is still there, really can't be arsed going back to that grim thread to check. ) Weird.

Maybe they edited the twats comment to 'twats are good'

Thanks Erica for joining. I hope you’ve seen all the positive comments about your recent post on transparency and how it was appreciated

Yes, thanks Erica. I know what it's like to get 'feedback'(!) and I really respect and admire the way that you have responded.

If you run a fashion (or other) blog and you are recommending a product that you like, it is deceitful to not disclose if it was a gift. You are passing off an advertisement of something as a genuine review.

Really interesting thread. I think quirkychick has summed up the crucial point in two lines here - this is what it boils down to. Why is it so hard for some bloggers (and their supporters) to grasp?