Can we chat about fashion Instagrammers/influencers..

[Cherrypie32]

..because I don’t have anyone in real life to carp about it to. So, I follow a few, am addicted to the stories/feeds of some but don’t always know why. The ‘high end’ ones, The Frugality, Dress Like A Mum, Emma Hill etc pop up but quite designer and high end for me. I like the ramblings of Does My Bum but I’m nothing like her body shape so don’t wear her clothes. There are a few more ‘high street’ ones I follow, Steal My Style, What Kathy Did, Forty not Frumpy and more but they tend to be repetitive. Is this because they are so heavily sponsored to flog something? At the moment they are all banging on bout All Saints leather bikers and maxi skirts. And they all copy each other so there’s not much new to look at. There are a few I follow with nowhere near the amount of followers that seem more creative and have different body shapes so I presume that they have more liberty to do this as aren’t under afflilate deals.
I don’t need advice to ‘unfollow’, I enjoy looking at it all, just interested in how it all works really.

Yes absolutely, it is an affiliate programme. Affiliate links are always ADs under ASA guidance, that's not even a grey area. I don't know how so many influencers have been able to get away with not disclosing them as ads for so long.

I follow a mummy blogger who even today, after the guidelines came out, keeps posting affiliate links with absolutely no note that they are. She also consistently acts like she buys everything herself because her husband works for a hedge fund; it's clear that most of it is gifted however.

I just don’t get why some don’t want to be transparent, just own it.

I think there might be a few who are embarrassed that they don’t get gifted things

Yes I remember that CLTS debacle. I asked her something like if it was really necessary to call other women knobs and she blocked me. She's a funny one - all those undisclosed gifted fur coats, remember? She had a fur coat wardrobe to rival the Queen. And her wee son in every Instastory. Honestly I was not sad to be blocked. I should have unfollowed before but you keep making allowances for people against your instincts, don't you?

@KimchiLaLa I follow someone similar and have been wondering about her lack of transparency. I didn't know if she was so unbelievably well off that she buys all of these things (daily purchases, often multiple) herself or if she's just not even bothering to hint at gifts or ads I'm pretty certain it's the latter.

Elsprth, yes to clts having more fur coats than a fur coat shop. Also I do remember her blocking people then. She’s Got a terrible view of be nice and agree with me or get blocked. She v naive I think and seems to refuse to engage or even consider the debate.

who is CLTS?

ignore me, figured out who you meant now

I don't know who CLTS is?!

Oh, I have figured it out too! 😂

There's a few I'm interested to see changing to meeting the guidelines. Anelli Bush who doesn't seem to buy anything nor have an actual job or usp or anything. She just blogs her life. It's remarkable.

I'm also keen to see the extent to which TheFrugality adopts. Her latest comments under DLAMs recent post made me chuckle.

It's going to be really interesting to see the long term impact of these new guidelines on influencer behaviour.

Oh DLAM's post is so 'transparent' (but not in the right way) - being deliberately laborious and clunky about her declarations and then saying that she hopes people don't find it all 'boring'. These rules are just like, oh so unnecessary and tiresome.

The Unmumsy Mum has also written about it today, but pretty honestly. She has always been open about the whole #ad thing and even wrote about it when she started doing it (which was a relatively hugely long way into her blogging career) saying that she was getting all these offers and the money is too good to turn down. I think she has always been slightly different to the rest of the 'Mummy Bloggers' and wonder how she is regarded amongst them?

Cara Sutherland posted something ridiculous about it last night (which has now gone) - something along the lines of 'now I feel like I won't be able to support so many small business anymore which is such a shame as influencers with a lot of followers can reach so many people for them' Or maybe they could contact you and you could actually buy something from them and then tell all your followers??

Yes, the 'small brand shoutout' aka 'freebie haul'.

They are all making the same joke about how their husbands will now know exactly what they have spent money on and what was given to them, so they won't be able to lie any more. I doubt it will be much of a problem as I imagine they spend their own money on very little!

I started watching YouTube a few months back and am at the stage of noticing the same things. It's a turn off.

So someone's problem with disclosure is that her husband will finally see how much stuff she buys?

So someone's problem with disclosure is that her husband will finally see how much stuff she buys?

It's not that, it's that all of their followers will see that their entire feed is one big inauthentic advert. But the husband thing is a nice deflection from that!

Yes these people should be paying tax on their gifts. As with any business. If I get given (for example in the last 12 months) a sandwich lunch or a promotional football it goes on the work gift register. And I am not allowed to accept anything expensive. I pay tax on my company car.

All these things need to be transparent and taxed. They have a financial value!

It’s really not that hard. There are no gifts, they are ads ppl aren’t paying you for to enable you to build your brand so that in the future you will be considered for more paid for promotions. Of course you have to wear the gift (or put it in your house/visit/balence it on your child) as if you don’t you won’t get more.

I've just read this one too!

@JessicaPeach That's superb

Messaging turned off too so no one can respond

Why will the small businesses suffer? I don’t understand this argument whatsoever? They will still receive the items to showcase except now they must mark it as gift. Why would that affect small businesses?

Actually i do see the problems for small businesses as I know someone with one & that was one of the reasons I originally liked insta, with the decline & expense of the high street its quite hard to find new brands unless they have large marketing budgets.

My friend would occasionally get in touch with an influencer or they reached out to her. She would send them an item for free & then the influencer would photograph them perhaps months later. Now that the likes of Pampers & M&S are involved who can pay for that advertising space, small brands can’t compete. However I don’t see why a blogger can’t state that it’s an ad but they weren’t paid for it? Personally it’s a lot more believable when a blogger receives a “gift” from say Me&Em if they shop at Finery then if a blogger who shops in Waitrose does a paid collaboration with Asda.