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.

MaryPoppinjay - I have seen the interiors blog with the kitchen refurb.

She has written at least 100 words on Instagram in the description part, then added a small AD in the middle and then added 30 hashtags!!

That is a lot of writing, but no time to tell us which items were gifted, which brands she is working for or stealthy advertising.

Thank goodness she had time to tag 10 brands to the picture. Phew!

Agree that kitchen of Lisa Dawson’s is very confusing re what’s been gifted and what’s not. Most of it has I’m guessing

My insta is a vast, echoing, empty cavern at the minute. Where are they all?😉

The kitchen blog is extremely murky. "I worked with" or "Brand X provided me with" is meaningless. Are the plywood doors kindly gifted? (they are featured on the brand's own page with a "thanks!") The wine cooler? The paint? The speaker? I know she had said before in her stories that the Caesarstone was a freebie, as was the sink and tap, I think the flooring is? I had been considering getting our kitchen renovated using Custom Fronts as they seemed like a lovely little brand on instagram, but the thought that I would be subsidising someone who can't disclose their adverts clearly is a massive turn off. That's a big old tax bill right there on that blog. You can't get away with calling a kitchen a sample.

Over the last few days I have seen a carpet, dining table and chairs, an upholstered chair, rugs, a bathroom sink and tap as well as the proverbial kitchen sink. None of this was previously disclosed as far as I can tell. Disclosures are either vague hand wafting of gifted stuff somewhere in the image that you have to try and guess, or just a snarky comment. Disappointing.

My insta is a vast, echoing, empty cavern at the minute. Where are they all?😉

On the phone to their tax advisor hopefully. Two days until the filing deadline. Tick tock.

My insta is a vast, echoing, empty cavern at the minute. Where are they all?

...Or frantically trying to pull an on trend outfit together from their wardrobe that hasn’t been #gifted.

Thank you @marypoppinsjay. It's something that seems previous obvious to me. If you, or you and your DH are powerful influencers still with a token day job, then never having to buy your own clothes, cosmetics, toiletries, shoes, cars, birthday presents, white goods, furniture, Christmas presents, holidays then your salaries will stretch an awful lot further for you both. Then yes your Instagramming most definitely makes it much easier to pay your mortgage.

Full marks to Kat Farmer - she has accepted the challenge and dug deep for an ungifted outfit. These really are going to be interesting times. I wonder whether the advertisers will come after the instamums who now can't waft around their kitchens without fessing up to the #ad. It's going to seem like a lot of money for not so much exposure!

Wardrobe Icons really isn’t a magazine. It’s a big front for affiliate marketing.

Reporting to the ASA is simple, but they really don’t have any teeth.

www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html

Reporting to the CMA also looks straightforward and they actually have sanctions for non-compliance.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/455069/CMA_notification_form__Word_version_.docx

Genuine question - what are the decent brands that DON’T use influencers in this way? I feel so disillusioned about the whole thing - it all feels like such cynical, manipulative marketing. I would prefer to spend my money with brands who don’t treat customers this way. I don’t see Zara being worn much on these influencers, and I suppose smaller, independent brands don’t have the budgets. Any others?

One thing that's still confusing me with the new rules is whether they have to put AD on a photo where something they've been gifted is visible in shot but they don't actually mention or tag it. I've seen some people put up a photo with AD on it but there's nothing tagged or mentioned so you're left wondering what it is they're actually advertising! It might be a washing machine, it might be a print on the wall, but it's not clear. That seems to defeat the purpose somewhat.

Also, some of them really need to stop with the white text on white background, small writing, hidden in the corner behind their profile name.

I think influencers need to go back to first principles. This is what CMA says:

People need to know if influencers have been paid, incentivised or in any way rewarded to endorse or review something in their posts. It’s important that they make this clear to their followers. This includes when a product or service has been given to them for free. This needs to be clearly stated when a product, brand or service is tagged, linked or endorsed in any way.

Influencers obviously ask all sorts of questions of themselves before they put up a post. Part of their editing process needs to be whether that most meets the CMA requirements. AD may not be the only way to do it, but as long as it is clear, they can't possible get into trouble.

I know Boden has been all over these influencers like a hot rash. Jigsaw used to be biggies and I think M&S are too. I don't know why they don't have to declare their relationship with the instagrammers - fairs fair and let's you decide if you want to buy from them or not. Really grosses me out to go to their websites and see these links to the grammers - such a smug, self satisfied marketing strategy.

The most useful post I’ve read about what needs to be declared and how is by a small instagram account, This E17 Life, who also happens to be a lawyer.

thise17life.com/2019/01/28/why-is-everyone-talking-about-influencer-marketing/

Waffly ‘this post includes some gifts’ just isn’t clear enough. Subliminal advertising, with free products dotted about in the background, is powerful marketing.

I have a long list of influencers I’m watching who have constructed a living around appearing to have an aspirational lifestyle - the wardrobe, the home, the holidays. Their business is predicated upon their lifestyle appearing to be authentic and organic, rather than advertising. Completely misleading for consumers and I’ll be interested to see if they start properly disclosing.

I like Nikki. That's the best blog on it I have seen and I hope it gets shared widely in the blogger community.

OrnamentalDiamond agree. Thanks for the links.

PleaseDoNotBend Always liked the Custom Doors brand before so would be a shame for them to be associated with this.
I need a massive kitchen overhaul and until recently had narrowed suppliers down Herringbone and another to support a small brand. Now knowing how likely it is that their very high profile kitchen was likely a gift or heavily discounted it really puts me off.

Zara as far as I know doesn’t use influencers but you’d be hard pushed to find many that don’t. Marketeers have been telling brands for a while now they get more bang for your buck with influencers than traditional advertising media.

This E17 Life blog post is excellent. Well written, clear and little room for ambiguity. Thanks for sharing OrnamentalDiamond

Mostly of the people mentioned on this thread are in clear violation of the rules. But we knew that already and now they should have no excuse to pretend otherwise.

Oohhh. The silence re the is it/isn't kitchen is deafening. Wonder when all will be revealed!

yeah we are in the middle of sorting our kitchen out and choosing a supplier a massive decision, so it's good to find brands like Custom Doors on instagram and see what they can look like in various settings. An honest review would be important to me though. I got a sample pack from them (chortle) and I was a bit worried about the wood denting and carrying knocks - an influencer review should be talking about these sorts of things really, not just showing it off in a pretty picture. I don't see how the brands benefit from it unless it's a proper review of the pros and cons.

I actually watched Lily Pebble's kitchen tour as well and I was surprised to see her slagging off Devol kitchens - saying that her friend had one and it had chipped. While useful information, I thought it was a bit unprofessional of her, with so many followers of her own (especially as it wasn't her kitchen!), and if I was Devol I wouldn't have been happy at all. As far I as know, they are also a small British brand. She could have made her point without naming Devol specifically.

Yeah but her friend is unlikely to be lying and you could argue that we're asking IGers to be frank and honest and that's all she's doing.

All we hear is gushing about how AH-mayyyyzing something is. I like a bit of a counterpoint to that, tbh. Yes the brand would be pissed off but if their quality isn't that great, then......

I get that, but they shouldn't be slating competitor brands. By all means be honest about the brands you are "reviewing" but it's not cool to do that to other brands without direct experience. Like I said, she didn't have to name the brand just say she selected Herringbone because their paint finish seemed more durable than others she had seen.

Didn’t follow Lily Pebbles so she wasn’t on my radar when looking at Herringbone. I was thinking of the other large influencer. deVol was actually the other brand we were looking at so good to know somebody had that experience but not an entirely subjective view if LP was advertising Herringbone. That’s playing dirty...

We don't know if she was advertising them to be fair. She said in the video her kitchen was a massive investment. Nowhere has it been marked as AD.

My heart bleeds, such hard work! This has been a real eye opener, the petulant comments are ridiculous.

"no payment"