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!

I agree Flo, it's pretty much the equivalent of a suspected lazy journo thread elsewhere on MN.

PecanPiePoppet Actually I did notice the brand, hence the reason I used a lower case "u" ; they were ugg boots, just not Ugg (TM) boots ;) Also the brand name was plastered right across the story. Kat went on a press day for them in Bath some weeks ago, the agreement probably was for a certain amount of time to pass between that and the advertising she would be paid to do for them. Or, you could just believe she was just sitting around in her pyjamas eating peanuts for breakfast proudly showing of her unmade up spotty skin, 'cos she's an imperfect real women, just like the rest of us right?

Still waiting for the Jigsaw ad, she's been wearing a £300 gifted leather biker jacket the identical gifted Hush one and the gifted Ted Baker ones not being enough for a while now so it must be soon.

I agree about Beth Goodram. She was one of the first ones I followed. I think she commented on the press days yesterday and not being there as well.

MOD also commented on the press days and not being there. Apparently now she’s out of London she’s going to be more selective about what she goes to...

I used to follow DMBL40 but found she became less selective probably as she was more influenced by brands. She's now repped by big social agency Gleam (who reps Zoella etc) so she's likely playing the game more strongly.

Interesting thread and eye opening.
I have also unfollowed a lot of them. Kat being one of them. I used to enjoy her blog before she did Instagram stories. I don’t want to be rude but I found them very staged and fake.
As someone else mentioned, I find the emphasis on consumerism a bit troubling. As adults we have more awareness of how these blogs/vlogs work and can filter some of it out. However, as there are so many bloggers / vloggers that have a tween and teen following it bothers me that they are so actively sold to under the ‘I’m like your big sister’ guise and you simply must try this new whatever product it is this week.
The teens in my life are now coveting some incredibly high end make-up and handbags and I can’t help feel there is a bit of an exploitative angle to all of this.

Going back to magasines for a minute - I enjoyed the new Vogue and I'll buy it again but if Enninful is serious about diversity, I think he'll need to get out of London a bit more.

I know it's the capital and I like it, I really do but it was supposed to be a Great Britain edition! Again that may sound harsh when there was Christopher Bailey on Leeds and JW Anderson on Londonderry and Zain Maliki on Bradford. But they were all nostalgia pieces.

Just off the top of my head, he could have sent someone to Bradford to look at the Muslim fashion scene, or Liverpool where they take dressing up very seriously, or Northampton to report on shoe making... He may have a very different phone book to Schulman but I still had sense of him calling up all his mates.

But he seems like a smart guy so I'll stick around and hopefully he'll learn. I shall check out Allure - if they're challenging the anti-aging orthodoxy that would be very refreshing!

Zain Malik - sorry - bossy autocorrect!

A life to style (formerly schoolgatestyle) recently posted about some expensive pjs, she was given. She open about it and said they were a gift, but that she could write whatever she wanted. She raves about how lovely they were but also admitted that she wore scruffy pjs otherwise.

So basically, she’s trying to encourage us to buy a product she is unable/unwilling to buy for herself.

The fashion lift (formerly school run mum) once posted about a washing machine she was loaned and wrote about how it didn’t ruin her clothes etc. She gets an ‘a’ for effort for trying to link the post to what her blog is about (fashion) but a ‘fail’ as it was so obviously sponsored. I think she may got a lot of flack as I think the post was taken down.

Celtic & Co have just popped up on Swears By. Funny, that.

Celtic & Co really are good though.

I have not been paid to tell you that

Yes they are!

Kat also got a washing machine. It was at that point I sensed her blogging was going in a different direction- prior to that there really hadn't been anything other than a whole load of cut&paste pics of things we might want to buy from mainstream stores

Just read all of this. I'm not a huge blog reader. I find it all a bit consumerist and not necessarily something I want (or could have). I find them all quite samey too. I havc no idea who Kat Farmer is!

One blog I used to like was Readingmytealeaves. It was the complete antithesis to the above. I loved that it was about simplicity and was gentle. It was aspirational but real. Then I guess, their readership increased enough for them to start getting freebies and the blog has just turned into one big advert and just the complete opposite of what they started as.

I guess the lure of free £200 white pjs for your 3 year old must be tempting but at least be honest about it. So disappointing to see a blog which started out highlighting the need for integrity and truthulness has sold out.

Shpuld add that I have no issue with affiliate links, I always assume they are (althpugh ot's nice to be told) but what I do have an issue with are undeclared gifts (bribes?). But then again, you always believe someone's review a little less if they didn't pay for the item, so I guess they wouldn't tell you.

sierra I used to read that too! It was really anti consumer and was more about minimal living.* It’s sad they sold out.*

They were all at it again last night! Some dinner for shoeholics whateverTF that is. I wonder if they run out of things to say to each other at these things. I'd imagine it must be quite competitive too, but concealed under the sisterhood. They all do that gushy thing about how wonderful they all are as well. Slightly makes me want to vom. Sorry - cynicism overload on a Friday morning!

I just had a look at readingmytealeaves and while it may not be as good as it apparently once was, at least it seems to consider the effect of fashion on the world. I think I'll be dipping into that one quite a bit

I still read DMBL40 daily, I find Kat's writing really engaging and though her style doesn't interest me at all these days, something still keeps drawing me back. I don't mind sponsored posts and affiliate links, I don't expect people to work for nothing, but the completely excessive consumerism is really grating now, all so mindless, with no thought whatsoever on the effect of the planet on buying a new item of clothing probably daily ( at least that's what it seems like)

Another blog I also go back to is Forever Amber, again it's the writing. Her personal style is lovely but nothing like mine. She's been doing it a long time and is up front about how she gets money from it. And she's much more true to her personal style rather than just jumping on each trend bandwagon - I love seeing people who have a strong, individual style, even if it's not the same as mine.

Unfancy's another one I like, I love the whole capsule thing. I want to know about clothes I can wear again and again and again and not feel like an utter scrooge for wanting to have a minimal wardrobe

@Ididnthearanything

It's also the constant consumerism, which I find can be infectious, if I'm not careful. There's so much wrong about that and nothing very much good about it, apart from the fact it earns bloggers money. Hence my momentous decision to unfollow. I'm sure they'll notice my absence.wink

Yes, this. And I think that's the problem with the fact that blogs are free. So unlike with print media where some of a journalist's fee will come from the cover price (though glossies are pretty much half adverts) all their income must come from advertising or affiliate links. So there's less incentive to write thoughtful pieces, it's all about encouraging to buy. And society is soooo consumerist, people still think nothing of buying clothes to wear once or twice and then get rid of so it's all just holding a mirror up to that.

I totally agree re the consumerism. It's really distasteful and theres never any mention of the impact of this.

Interesting to see the comments under DMBL40 post on a festive capsule wardrobe today and her reply...

I think it's partly because they're under pressure to produce content all the time. Quite apart from the consumerism, you have to be exceptionally good to write about your life every day and keep it fresh and interesting. Magasines (can you tell I'm getting into magasines all over again!) normally only come out once a month and they also have multiple writers so you get different voices and viewpoints.

And then there's the styling. I know magasine photoshoots are weird and the clothes are unaffordable and no-one dresses like that to do the gardening but I can look at how they put together colour and fabric and shape and volume and get ideas. One of the reasons I gave up on bloggers was the never-ending 'This jacket looks really great with jeans.' Well yes, thank you but I could have worked that out for myself.

I really don't understand all this dining and going to events organised by brands and then posting about it.

It's of no interest for me, as a potential customer. It didn't make the brand more desirable, quite the opposite actually.

What an interesting read this is. I used to follow lots of blogs and my blog reading peaked in 2015 when I had a back injury and was housebound for a bit. Slowly started unfollowing blogs last year when every blogger was in Topshop busted-knee jeans and Stan smiths...just like my 13-yr-old DD and all her friends! Also, like many other people who have commented here, the sheer amount of consumerism and constant consumption made me feel uncomfortable. Now I only follow a few and they are mostly about capsule wardrobes and zero waste living. I like Catwalk Schoolgates who does buy some expensive designer pieces but also advocates thoughtful shopping and buying preloved and vintage and has been very vocal about blogger freebies - quite brave! catwalkschoolgates.com/a-note-to-brands-and-pr-companies-what-consumers-really-think-about-bloggers/

Brands whose inclusion in a blog or on Instagram scream heavy PR involvement:

Hush
M&S
Shoeholics
Chambers & Beau
Miranda Dunn
Missoma
Air & Grace
& Other Stories
John Lewis
Ted Baker

Am I missing anyone?