Bloggers and brands 2.

[Merriboo]

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

@Theonlyoneiknow The one and only time I let myself be influenced by an influencer and it was a pile of overpriced crap.
I'm still blocked by them for simply asking if I should iron the initials back down as were peeling off.
As someone else said, They're obviously not interested in repeat business.

That is such poor service @adidasgirl. Pity as I like the bags and really wanted one but will save my pennies now. Sounds ridiculous to be blocked for asking a perfectly acceptable question! Will look for another leopard print bag

I watched the Brummy Mummy of 2 on a YouTube video earlier.It popped up as recommended after I watched my daily Dr Pimple Popper.She was doing an Asos Haul.
She seems like a nice lady but all I kept thinking was whoever told her the denim skirt and the blue eyeshadow suited her was lying.

Do they all have PO Boxes rather than giving out their addresses for free stuff?

Well the leopard was the one I went for @Theonlyoneiknow

I'm so glad I've saved you some cash.
The straps are so flimsy that you couldn't put anything heavy in it at all for fear of them snapping.
Plus the initials peeling(which seems to be common from reading on both of these threads)

I must be in the minority, as I bought a SWYC bag about this time last year and have used it pretty much daily as my “overflow” work bag. Some days I carry a laptop in it, often huge piles of student work, and it has served me very well with no issues at all.

I have noticed a lot of Edinburgh Gin this week.

@adidasgirl have you seen the leopard bags from harriethandbags? They were my 2nd port of call (sorry to hijack thread need a new one about leopard bags!)

No I haven't @Theonlyoneiknow But I am about to go look now as I love a leopard bag.
You're not affiliated to them now are you?

Ha I have a measly 200 followers - sadly no affiliations here !

@FleaRiddenScruffBag YY to all of that. I ditched Facebook last year and have been reading books continually since then (note: none written by 'influencers' ). The effect on my mental health has been pretty staggering in terms of freeing myself from the need to pick up my phone and document apparently perfect elements of my life. My DCs also see me without my face in a screen all the time.

I'm still on IG as I have a business page on there (nothing to do with anything that any of the bloggers on this thread would be interested in) so I can't ditch that too, sadly. However I do see all those little squares for what they really are.

Sorry, slight thread derailment there. As you were

Absolutely agree,. I fell my mental health is better now not seeing all these materialistic and OTT posts on IG. I'm planning on only buying things I really need/want anyway. All the waste/expense makes me feel uncomfortable. Met a friend for lunch/shopping yesterday and didn't purchase anything.

This so resonates with me. We have been on an economy drive for a while. Haven't bought anything in the sales and feeling proud but man alive, one look at insta and the monster lurking within starts to stir and want feeding. And I'm a grown woman. How much worse for our impressionable children.

Was coming on here this morning to semi apologise for my last night's rant. I do not want to vilify individuals and I do enjoy some of these blogs etc...... However, I really get pinkhouses lurking monster and I do worry about what consumers our children are becoming. This time.com/4793331/instagram-social-media-mental-health/ is the article that sparked my outburst, so much of it resonates with me too as an adult and a parent.

....... and, I am hugely pissed off by this whole influencer scam.

Saying ‘This morning I was sent a package from XYZ’ means absolutely bugger all though doesn’t it?
I received two parcels this morning, because I paid for them.
If IG’s are sent something they need to make it completely clear if it was free or not. I don’t care if you’ve been asked for a mention, a shout out or if you’d wear it lying on your sofa in the lotus position.
Did you pay yes or no. It’s not rocket science.

Really please that Kat F has taken this on board although a bit defensive initially she is very transparent now.

I agree, DMBL is very transparent now. A few of her blogger mates should learn from her. The only thing that slightly bugs me is when things are tagged as @expensiveitem from @ bicestervillage. Why tag the location where you bought it from unless you feel the need (or are being incentivised in some way) to draw attention to it? I have seen at least a couple of bloggers (inc The Frugality) do blog posts "in collaboration" with BV so I am sure they have some commercial thing going with bloggers, but on the whole I think disclosure around BV shopping visits is not transparent. I know DMBL has come on here before and said she didn't get paid to go to Bicester on a recent visit, but it seems like other bloggers definitely have been and @ Bicester gets a shedload of tags.

I was thinking about the frugality earlier, she doesn’t tag gift on anything at all does she? (Unless I’ve missed it!) How come she has escaped the mumsnet crusade on transparency?

I used to think she was transparent because I think she had a couple of paid promotions in the header but I agree I don’t think she is at all (unless she is the only blogger that paid for her jumper1234 cashmere? 😂)

There are very few blogger who are transparent about gifts. In fairness DMBL40 is now very transparent and I admire her for it.

I noticed Chloelovestoshop and Thefashionlift have both had the same blue bags recently from a brand beginning with H (can’t remember the full name), both tagged the brand but no mention of it being a gift. They are both dreadful with transparency. Anneli Bush is another. The Frugality use to be good at transparency. And so on.

The whole ‘I only showcase what I’d buy myself’ is total crap imo - if they were buying their own clothes, they’d have a smaller amount of clothes and would obviously have to be selective in what they’d buy.

I wonder if The Frugality is doing more paid Fashion Editor work and the influencing as a sideline as think that would blur it a bit. She posts quite a lot of moans at people annoying her with intrusive DMs etc so assume she’s not so bothered about that audience?

The Frugality has always responded when I've messaged her. That's one of the reasons I like her.

I've seen the BrummyMummyOf2 do box openings on her Instagram Story most days.
When she shows what's inside she always says "Thank you to so and so for this" But she never tags it #gifted or anything else.There are many other influencers who do the same.
Using her as an example as she opens boxes most days in the same way as she sings a CBeebies song whilst opening.

So what do some influencers have against using the gifted hashtag? I think from now on I'm just going to assume that whatever they're promoting or featuring has been sent for free or they've been paid to do it and it's not an honest review.

I've seen some of the influencers (including MOD)recently featuring that babysitting app. I don't think for one second that any of them would recommend that irl or think that it's a really good idea

DressLikeAMum said yesterday that she went to Bicester cos she had some vouchers. She didn't say if she got them from Bicester PR but quite probably.

I suspect Kat continues to say it long after the purchase not because of some quid pro quo but to imply that whilst it's a very expensive item, she wasn't mad enough to pay full price.

Thats not to say she doesn't get vouchers from time to time but she goes a lot so there's no bloody way all those trips were funded by vouchers.

@PavlovaPrincess Yep I saw that too.SV was another promoting that app.There is no way in the world that either of them would leave their kids with a stranger from an app.
Absolutely ridiculous thing to promote.
I am the same now.
Whenever an influencer mentions a brand or asks an opinion about an item.I just assume they have had it as a freebie or are after a freebie.