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.

WIT is an interesting one, she’s always pushed back on any transparency so let’s see!

The vouchers thing is interesting. There has certainly been no appetite to disclose these before, even on feeds where the odd gift appeared. In my mind payment in vouchers on the basis of a monthly retainer is no different to a paid partnership, except the blogger is being taken advantage of by the brand. I don't want the smaller brands to suffer from the "new" transparency rules, but I have no problem with the bigger brands being forced into paying more to influencers or them paring back their spend in this market so that the smaller brands are able to compete better in terms of visibility.

Anybody pushing back on transparency seems like they have stuff to hide/embarrassed that their lifestyles are not self funded

pleasedonotbend this whole monthly vouchers thing is new to me too!
Hopefully some of the cool smaller ad free (or light) accounts who style well and have good captions will now start to grow and become more visible. Like the old days of Instagram when people were authentic and less glossy and less samey.

I feel like a complete mug. I’ve followed one Istagrammer for ages. She wears mostly &OtherStories. I’ve often commented admiring clothes and she has often said she’ loves the shop and buys all her clothes there. Turns out they are all gifted! I feel so stupid.

So far I have seen the following brands using vouchers as a form of payment -

AndOtherStories
M&S
Topshop
Sezane (described a regular 'gifting allowance')

Any others?

I wonder what the deal is with Ganni. That is a brand that seemed to come from nowhere and then rapidly became the bloggers' favourite.

I had no idea about the vouchers.

Anybody pushing back on transparency seems like they have stuff to hide/embarrassed that their lifestyles are not self funded

I think you’re right, it looks a lot more shady & grabby.

bloominglovely me too - sorry you feel like that. We were essentially conned and it’s not a nice feeling.

I am now going to stop buying from brands that have explicitly condoned these shady practices. Brands have had legal obligations to ensure their advertising (in whatever format) is clear. By not having control over their human billboards they have flagrantly broken the rules.

I see thefashionbugblog has now started adding #afflink to her stories.

And WIT is using ‘samples’ instead of gift... maybe that’s how they will get around it?

Prob easier to do with beauty products than clothing/trips/events/household goods/kitchens etc...

Increasingly #presstrip... in my mind you can use #samples or #presstrip if you are a registered journo/blogger with a NUJ press card (only available to people who have paid published work rather than Joe Bloggs). Otherwise it’s just hiding #ad #gift

thefashionablepan is being her usual charming self:

'x & x were part of my collaboration last year - bloody hell, this is so boring, sorry guys'

'Bloody hell do I have to do this each time I post an ootd post?'

'I’ve heard it’s gonna snow this week?! 😏I’ve worked with snow before AD 😂'

#unfollowed

Yes, yes you do have to do that every time you do an OOTD... but the melodrama isn’t legally required
When will they realise this is for the benefit of their beloved mugs followers and stop being so petulant and childish.

Calling it samples changes the tax treatment too (which I suspect they are all crapping themselves about the most). But press samples should be sent back.....(obviously cosmetics excepted from this). And surely you would need to review them, not just add a witty caption to a selfie of you wearing it.

Hollywilloughy is still ignoring the rules I see. Outfit today by tagged as by Reiss and one of the first comments I can see is by Reiss telling people where to buy it.

Unlikely she or her stylist paid for the outfit themselves so surely this is an advert for Reiss?

With people like WIT and the other Wardrobe Icons girl I would imagine they do send a lot of clothing back after using for photography. But they must be gifted an absolutel ton of stuff. They may be wealthy but they don’t seem to be Deborah Brett wealthy (who is very ad light and has a very swoony if completely unobtainable lifestyle)

After a few days of some influencers (fashion & beauty) lying low and just posting pictures of their cat/dog or the cleaning cupboard, it appears the memo has gone around to call everything samples instead of coming clean about the gifting/vouchers/discounted kitchens/holidays etc.

It is so interesting to see which influencers are willing to be completely honest with their audience (the consumer) and those who are fuming and still really don't want us to know. It is making it very easy for me to choose who to keep on my feed.

When people show you who they are believe them!

@thefashionstylefile "Tights and knickers: also models own #notgifted #thesebloodyrules"

peaches100 If only their advertising was as transparent! The reluctance is staggering.

In an attempt to praise the people who have been mature about this. The following have gone up in my estimation due to transparency :
Cate St Hill
Emma Hill

The list of those going down is far longer... Welcome any more rec’s of people who are being grown up and respectful.

I responded to one such moaning story by an “influencer” (despise that term) who was saying “followers either like an item or they don’t. What difference does it make if it is gifted or not? My response is attached...her story has since been deleted & she hasn’t replied!

WRT to small brands: I’m a small brand & can’t afford to send gifts anyway. I give all repeat customers a small discount instead. The playing field is far from even & I think it will be interesting to see how quickly so-called small brand supporters will scurry back to the high street.

All this faux exasperation at the rules is so unprofessional. You make money from this shit? Then you act like a professional and adhere to the code of conduct like anyone else in any other industry has to.

Emma Hill is being very transparent and is off enjoying her Gifted/Ad holiday, all marked for the consumer to see, enjoy Emma!

Maybe now a few people can take a step back and see it has never been about jealously or not supporting people but about the consumer and stealth/hidden advertising!

SmallTownThreads is great & v transparent.

@SuperstarDJ I'm pretty sure that HW & PS get a daily "budget" for their clothes on this morning? Happy to be told I'm wrong though!