Bloggers and brands 2.

[Merriboo]

continuing the discussion from the previous thread about transparency and disclosure (or lack of) by bloggers

Nipersvest - On The Anna Edit's instastories today she has 2 bags similar to the Puzzle bag but far cheaper - Mango and & Other Stories.

I had never heard of Anna Hart before this thread - guess she is another one who is much younger than me so not on my radar. Seems a shame if she resorts to being arsey when criticism comes her way (which ultimately will come back to haunt her) but, I have to say, she looks like someone who is not just blogging but running a business too. She seems entirely committed to it and good luck to her.

Chloe wouldn't spit on Next if it were on fire. Hilarious.

The agenda for the summit looked very good. Think they should have had a consumer on the panel as well for complete balance . I would love to have seen the slides from the influencer rules and regulations section (boring that I am), I can see they covered when something is an #ad (when paid + controlled content) and it would have been interesting if gifts were discussed. I saw luludumas went, who seems to be a bit better at disclosing lately (though she still uses that silly (g) which I thought was abandoned quite quickly elsewhere) so will be interesting to see if any influencers change how they disclose. I see AH is still sending out undisclosed affiliate links on twitter though!

@EFleshman. I don’t think it’s the Next own label she’s promoting but the other labels they stock- the coat she was wearing this morning was Boden.

Can I offer my apologies please. I was hugely indignant that someone has said I’d said my Loewe was a gift but absolute fair dos, I checked back through all my photos and yes, I had mistakenly said in one that it was a gift. For clarification, it was a Christmas present from my husband. Apologies for my mistake, I have edited.

I've never heard of Cara Sutherland before, but thanks for pointing me in the direction of her blog post because I liked it a lot. Especially the bit where she talks about an app called Tribe and said "They also offer great guidance to ensure you are complying with advertising regulations. After all you wouldn’t want to end up on that mums net thread now would you?"

I believe bloggers should be charging brands as much as they can wring out of them, because as I said before, they are providing the cheap and easy route to consumers, photography, copywriting (in many cases) and often child and animal models as well. Fill your boots! (just make sure you let the consumer know about the relationship - we aren't bothered how much you charge, well I'm not anyway)

I was just about to respond Kat Farmer that I thought it was a typo. You had been very clear that your husband had bought it for Christmas. And fair dues; since these discussions, you have been tagging each item according to providence, which was all that I was interested in.

However, can I ask, do you listen to Heart FM? Like, really? I have all along extolled how much I love your blog and Instagram. And still do. You are charismatic, and witty, and I love your style.

But I am a little behind on catching up on Instagram posts (full time-ish job and all). When somebody commented that you had made an Instagram post featuring running gear and advertising Heart FM, I literally gasped and thought “no way”. And saw that you had. I immediately cringed and thought “she’s sold out”.

I know that you are being presented with opportunities beyond what you would ever have invisaged when you first started (gosh, you just went to the NTAs), and more power to you, but do you ever feel that your original intentions for starting the blog have been lost, to the detriment of your initial followers?

Kat, he did good with that bag, it’s lovely x

Speaking of brands not looking at who they hire to represent them (side note: I think I hate the term 'brand ambassador' even more than 'influencer'). Anyone else keeping up with the L'Oreal kerfuffle around Amena Khan?

It was clearly meant to cause a SM frenzy (tldr: they hired a hijab-wearing influencer as part of a wider diversity shampoo campaign). Of course, they were banking on the internet having strong opinions on a hair campaign where not a single hair was to be seen. Twas the whole point, easily prompting debate and press articles (which they got, on the right your regular old anti-islam rants, on the left the emancipation arguments) whilst they could quite easily hide behind a aren't we diverse shield. However, they clearly forgot to do their due diligence as the internet was quick to dig up some anti-Israel twitter comments from the blogger (when the campaign was all about promoting tolerance). I'll try to leave the politics out of it (both in the campaign and the subject of the tweets) but I think this is really on L'Oreal for not at the very least having a good look at her digital footprint before hiring her. Obviously, she's the one taking the hit in all this.

Oh @botemp, I did some reading on Amena Khan after your post and I feel really sorry for her. It looks like she has been hung out to dry by L'Oreal. Just goes to show that the brands are only interested in themselves really. If it looks like a blogger will damage their brand they are happy to distance themselves and leave the blogger to handle the fallout.

Mother Pukka also saying "can't breath" instead of breathe. Things like that drive me nuts. So unprofessional.

I saw 'earn't" on one blog which shall remain nameless

Ithas from my perspective L'Oréal screwed her over twice, the campaign was clearly designed to court a certain controversy. Even without the tweets she would have been a vulnerable target and they knowingly built a campaign around that. The controversy is of their making, it just didn't pan out as designed and now she's left with the debris, it's really poor form.

Ok, so which one of you is going to start a Grammar Nazi Pedant insta to 'expose' all these bloggers.

Not me, because I’ve been relying on my desktop to correct its to it’s when appropriate but unfortunately it doesn’t, so my grammar has been shocking on this thread. I think there’s a gap in the market for it though 😂

That’s nice, dear.

@mrsdoubleskulls the heart campaign was based on promoting their Feel Good Challenge which, having joined a running course genuinely thinking I’d hate it and only doing it to prove that once and for all, running wasn’t for me, but really really loving it and feeling so much better for doing it, I was happy to be involved.

And yes we do listen to heart, we listen to lots of radio stations thanks to a small boy who insists on changing the radio until a song he likes comes on and that’s often heart!

Caroline Barnes, who I like, has just posted about a supplement for sleep. I'd be very disappointed if it's gifted. At least three other bloggers have commented saying they're taking it too. One even says their "hormone doctor" recommended it.

On a bit of a tangent I know, but does anyone follow a blogger who also works. I am a working mother and, while I enjoy following my blogs, they are not entirely relevant to me. The ones I follow are mummy bloggers - they blog, but that is their job. I would love to follow a blogger who also works - someone who has an office (or in my case, classroom) world who is interested in clothes, make up etc..........

Midlife Chic and A Life to Style both work

@my_fashionforecast works

Enbrogue is a fashion journalist, Myfashionable40s works PT (as a receptionist I think but I might be wrong), FakeFabulous is a scientist.

Frugality and Style Mum both work

I know the Frugality works but I think they were asking about someone working for an employer. Being self employed offers her a level of freedom (and stress!!) that a lot of people don't have.