Bloggers and Brands 3

[CookingUpAStormTonight]

New thread I hope.

It also has to be noted that Anna's apology made 152k followers aware of the issue. Candice B first threw shade at it and started it all but she only has 17k so by apologising on her own feed, Anna has boosted the whole thing considerably which is a good thing, IMO.

Candice is awesome and how she only has 17k followers is shocking to me, btw. She speaks for so many people and her voice is so important.

That Next / Hello! thing was a monumental cock up on the part of so many people. How the fuck did that get signed off?

Probably because it wouldn't even have entered the heads of the people signing it off that the lack of diversity may be an issue. Same why women struggle to get to the top in organisations, and why flexible working isn't widely accepted. People tend to like (and employ) people who look and have similar backgrounds to their own. Unless they are forced to look beyond this. It is good that a conversation has started although appreciate its very uncomfortable for MP, will be interesting to see what Next and Hello! do now. I think the awards are very soon? I feel sad for the people who are finalists though. I had a look and they are all good causes - how could you possibly decide which one is 'better' than any of the others though??

I think Mother Pukka's apology is undermined by her father commenting to defend her honour, and her mother commenting to direct everyone to have a cup of tea and stop posting.

I do find the whole Pukka family branding cringeworthy and right up there with 'haters gonna hate Hun', which is a shame as Anna is obviously an intelligent person with an important campaign to promote.

From a quick glance were most of the comments not supportive?

Is MP with Gleam?

Bet the ones who were on the charity shoot yesterday (DMBL and Erica) are making sure it's more diverse - assuming it wasn't already.

I don't see a whole lot objectionable about her Dad's comment tbh, though her Mums is......well, very much a "least said, soonest mended" type of comment which misses the mark by a country mile.

However I wonder what the other participants are saying? Anna has been doing mea culpas for 12 hrs now, not only on her feed but also on Candice Braithwaite and The Funny Fat Ones feeds and God knows who else.

She shouldn't be the only target just because she's the only one holding her hands up. It's not fair.

Binky, Kimberley and Izzy don't appear to have push back on their IG. Kate doesn't have an IG account. The Dorchester was providing accommodation but they seem to have escaped unscathed.

Under the hashtag #hellostarmums it looks like Mother Pukka was featured in a spread in Hello Magazine in mid February - the campaign has been ongoing since January.

Yet Mother Pukka only realised the error of her ways yesterday?

MP said she was advised by Next and Hello! to let them deal with it. Based on what I’ve seen of their response she was wise to ignore that advice 😂

I would imagine MP had had doubts for a while but it’s like a train you probably feel you can’t get off. A huge campaign, the risk of damaging her rep in the industry, lots of other people involved. She probably tried to keep her head down and hope it would fly under the radar but when she realised it was going to blow up she felt she had to be more proactive.

The others will probably not attract as much attention but then they aren’t campaigning for change. MP has put herself out there on a platform for equality so she’ll get the most attention when she gets involved in something that appears the very opposite of that.

Followed Candice after seeing her mentioned ^ - she totally rocks! Why is she not mentioned more??

Aren't all the bloggers repeatedly mentioned on here white? Am I the only one that finds this pc outrage ironic?

I don’t understand your point Nikied?

I'm also confused at what you're getting at, @Nikied, but off the top of my head, these threads have referenced non-white bloggers including but not limited to the likes of stylemesunday and teeclutter. HTH.

Nikied Candice discloses. There's been no need to question her business practices on a thread questioning people who aren't transparent.

This isn't a "who do you follow in general" thread.

Oh well at least MP aka Anna has got herself top story in the Daily Mail this morning.
"No publicity is..." and all that
Wonder who called them

Fair play to MP for putting up her hands and admitting that she got lost in the moment. One question though, hundreds of people!e mention how she has made such a difference with her Flex Appeal; I hadn't even heard of it until this thread, so has she been the key to flexible hours for mums? Also what are her 'flash mobs?'

The only ones cheering her campaign seem to be other bloggers who are effectively stay at home mums with a hobby so it makes me laugh that she is fronting this flex appeal campaign. It's not like she's working for some big corporate with flexible hours is it.
Part time hours have been around for ever and so have jobs that are flexible enough to start after the school run...long before she ever started campaigning for flexible hours. Whole thing is a joke. Willing to be told otherwise though.

We all know we have a legal right to ASK for flexible working but so do employers have the right to say "no you can't it doesn't work for the business". And this happens in most companies still so I'm not convinced Anna has changed anything towards these attitudes at all.

Me neither. But she does share lots of posts from people thanking her for her help.

The flash mobs are women coming together to advocate in public for flexible working.

I changed my working hours when dd was born 16 years ago, it’s a miracle I managed to come up with the idea without instamums and MP around back then

I can’t imagine her flex appeal has made any difference in changing the business world’s mindset. Unlikely most have even heard of her. What it probably has done though is give some women the extra confidence to ask for flexible working (even though they’re legally entitled to ask anyway). I can’t imagine her campaign would have any influence in the business decision making process though.

Still, it’s better to do something than nothing at all.

*By some women, I mean followers/groupies of hers.

I changed my hours at work 10 years ago and have worked flexibly since then, but I nearly had a breakdown from being overworked before leaving one role, have been a frequent recipient of digs about "only" working part time, took a massive pay cut to get back on the ladder and have been clawing myself back (and my self confidence) ever since. Yes MP didn't invent the concept of flexible working but she is going a good thing trying to make it work for more people and trying to get companies to buy into it. There are lots of people chipping away at this issue, some more visibly than others, but if what she is doing makes it easier for someone to ask for flexible working or to have their request accepted, then I think she has done well.

Wow, I had drifted off and seem to have missed a lot! Interesting to see how Insta is becoming such a big part of our lives that influencers are being courted so assiduously. In turn, this spotlight will only support demands for transparency and the Insta world will have to respond. I don't know MP, wrong end of my parenting spectrum, but it was interesting to see that Insta can provide an arena for debate once in a while. Also interesting to see some of the comments broadening the conversation beyond the Next/Hello saga into the role of an Instagrammer.

Really impressed with how Erica Davies is traversing this whole transparency issue, she’s now disclosing when she adds an affiliate link. I didn’t even know & Other Stories did them! That was an eye opener for me. Personally I don’t mind clicking them, but I do like to know.

Yes, it's chapeau, as we say in my little corner of France, to ED and DMBL40 for their transparency these days.

I don't mind clicking them when the blogger is clear about it being an advert. Pretending to be just a regular fashion conscious consumer (just discovered this amazing dress!) when you are actually working on behalf of the brand to influence your readers/followers doesn't sit right with me. I kind of guessed a lot of bloggers must use affiliate links with & Other Stories by the proliferation of their gear on Insta (I don't really know anyone who shops there in real life), so its good to have some clarity.