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.

I know it’s probably tongue in cheek but..

Oh I don't really mind that so much. It's just a weak joke but I don't think there's badness in it.

Wouldn't be at all surprised by influencer fraud. I have a private account, don't follow any non family members but have been on IG a lot in the last couple of days and yesterday I had a connection request from these people offering me the chance to buy followers. It is interesting to see how some of these influencers surge while others show a much more modest growth.

I unfollowed Cara Sutherland before Xmas cos it was ADADADADADAD, and one day I was like "yeah she's sardonic but why am I following an account which is currently 80% Ads?" Also felt v uncomfortable with the #Ads for kids clothing which required a hell of a lot of modelling by her kids.

I just couldn't figure out the USP of the account, tbh. There has to be more than Ads and the occasional droll aside.

A lot of good bloggers gave their followers a heads up in early Dec that it was going to be ad heavy with it being the run up to Christmas but normal content will resume soon. So I don’t mind ads as such as they should be paid for what they do (if they do it well) but ads aren’t really content for followers so if it’s a high proportion ads with little actual content I’m off.

Trying to work out why this whole thing has bothered me so much over the past few days and I’ve realised that many of the accounts I followed were aspirational accounts - good fashion, stylish homes etc. But the thing with aspiration is it should be achievable - for a while they led us to believe their lifestyles are. They weren’t head to toe in Gucci (bar the ubiquitous GG belt) or furnishing their homes with Italian designer sofa’s. They were one of us, they saved for stuff and used their discretion to buy what they could afford. BUT they weren’t... They were getting free clothing and beauty products and furniture and kitchens and holidays and haircuts. If I’d known it was all free and they hadn’t scrimped and saved and instead were a walking talking advertising billboard I would have taken it all with a pinch of salt. Don’t mind being advertised to as long as I know that is what it is.

I think that is why the ASA is coming down so hard on them. They have set their pitch as being one of us, when quite obviously they aren't. The whole sell is based on literally buying into their lifestyle, their homes, their kitchens, their holidays because they are normal people leading normal lives. Except they aren't.

The begging for likes in stories for ad posts on the feed has started. Most of them are not doing it properly. Labelling things as gift only and either hidden away or hashtagged on one of many posts only. I agree that fraud is next up followed by hmrc and tax evasion.

I am also shocked at the extent of gifting going on. It is shocking. I really really hopethat there's a clampdown on the exploitation of children. One Instagrammer yesterday went on a rant stating her 5 year old only wore the clothes she liked and only took part in the ads for products she loved. She's 5!! There is no real thing as consent when you are that age. It's exploitation.

I'm feeling just the same as you marypoppinsjay. It's left me with quite a nasty taste in my mouth and it honestly isn't one of envy because I'm very lucky to be financially comfortable. But I do not like having the wool pulled over my eyes.

I read in a news article about the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network, which I’d never heard of. Back in 2016 when the U.K. held the rotating presidency it issued guidelines for online reviews and social media influencers.

www.icpen.org/sites/default/files/2017-06/ICPEN-ORE-Guidelines%20for%20Digital%20Influencers-JUN2016.pdf

Digital influencers should be guided by the following principles;

• disclose, prominently and clearly, where content has been paid for
• be open about other commercial relationships that might be relevant to the content and
• give genuine views on markets, businesses, goods and services

Gifted products and services would certainly be relevant... it’s just a shame that it’s taken nearly three years for the authorities to start implementing / imposing their own recommendations!

So despite the less professional influencers acting as if they have done/are doing nothing wrong in undeclared gifts and spon the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement body (which presumably is there to protect consumers...) disagrees.

In the guidance the first point for digital influencers is to “ Disclose all paid-for content clearly and prominently ”

and for the avoidance of doubt;

“ Paid-for’ is not limited to financial payment - for example it can include free clothing or tickets to events “

Written in black and white from an International body set up to protect consumers. Not just jealous/bitter/haters/trolls with a bee in their bonnet then?

news.sky.com/story/sky-views-influencers-like-kendall-jenner-and-bella-hadid-must-be-held-accountable-11620865

...... "They have smartly monetised their identities and promote products based on their personal connection to whatever is being sold."

That sky article is really very good. Thank you. I must watch the documentary.

I've seen one blogger doing teeny #af in the bottom right corner so you can barely see it!

Lily Pebbles is still dragging her heels. Going down the “press sample” route when we now know and other stories issues gift vouchers to influencers as part of a monthly allowance is a bit rubbish. It’s a step up from “tap for tags” though (CMA say explicitly that’s not adequate)

Speaking of Jenners/Kardashians, what about when they are promoting their own products? So say when Kylie Jenner or KK are posting an ad for their makeup line, do they have to put #ad because it's clear that it is an ad for their own product? But it is still an ad? They do put the hashtag if it's someone else's product, but not on posts for their own stuff it seems.

Under U.K. rules they would, I think. I wonder how much of it is their product anyway though. I’m sure they didn’t start a make up company from scratch but rather it’s licenced under their name from another company.

Very good point from the Sky article
“If that makes them more cautious, less likely to promote for money or more likely to insist on the due diligence that you might expect a traditional company to do, then great”.

Now more things are being declared it’s surprising (to me anyway) the sheer amount of companies that give out gift vouchers as monthly retainers. I sort of feel that a lot of the influencers have been taken for mugs. Here. give my company lots of advertising and have a gift voucher for my company in return which will result in more free advertising. Gifts vouchers don’t pay the mortgage.

Yup and you have to pay HMRC tax on a gifted gift voucher retainer. So the influencer ends up paying to wear free stuff they probably wouldn’t have bought before. Big brands getting a pretty good deal out of this really.
I still worry for the small business though, as somebody said if Influencers start actually buying their own stuff to look authentic and it becomes a choice between a small brand £50 leopard print jumper or the £15 version from H&M...

Good pushback on the ones who aren't complying from @alifetostyle and @smalltownthreads.

That is interesting @ElspethFlashman - I thought they had to start each post with AD but not many of them are, even the bigger, better ones who generally lead the way in transparency.

If they have half a brain they’ll all step in line pronto to look respectful of their audience rather than puff and pant to get attention from their peers. Any that continue to ad dodge and deliberately mislead their audience deserve all the backlash coming their way.

Remember that Maldives holiday? Not a sniff of a tag of any sort since. Daily photos and stories all plastered with the resorts chosen hashtags but nothing else.

So a token #ad on one photo at the beginning of the week, but if you hadn't seen it you'd think it was a personal holiday that she was tagging the resort in out of the generosity of her heart. Or something.

Pretty brazen, really.

Who are you taking about @ElspethFlashman ?

I'll be interested to see how much WIT actually buys and what's gifted!!

@esteelalonde. Huge following, constant flow of freebies, historically has declared as little as humanly possible. Long running thread on gurigossiper because of her perceived shadiness.