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.

Makes sense. In her interest to declare it hard work all this getting free stuff and opening it on insta stories lark. Saying that, opening a box whilst holding a phone can’t be easy.

I had to take the advice and unfollow Anna Hart as she annoyed me so much.

She was the one who said she'd been invited to come into mumsnet and was going to get the addresses or something of everyone who had criticised her.

She was very much "you don't understand cause you're not an Uber cool influencer like meeeee".

Oh no! Even the daddy bloggers have taken to tramping the streets to avoid disclosure in the house that #gifted #ad bought. Is nobody safe to post anymore without the need for hashtags?

@AtHomeInFrance

Beth Sandland has written a piece on her blog sharply critical of the guidelines :
bethsandland.co.uk/thoughts-on-the-new-government-influencer-disclosure-guidelines

I have a lot of time for her, she's no fool, so it's worth a read if you want to see the other side of the argument.

However in the comments there are a few people arguing back eloquently.

However there's a comment from Cara Sutherland that actually made me a bit .

It has left me totally confused how to post now. I’ve read and reread the guidelines. So if I story wearing a jumper I purchase from a brand who gifted me a different item 6 months ago I need to explain that on my story? Or only if I am mention said jumper? It seems mad as I obviously work with brands that I actually buy from otherwise I wouldn’t be promoting them. Meaning everything about me is an AD. I feel like Instagram isn’t the place for me anymore to be completely honest. I am always transparent but this feels so hard to get right

I do have some sympathy for people who are confused and a bit freaked out. After all, it's been confusing for us here too.

...... except for my personal favs. Poppysstyle - we have practically nothing in common style wise but I have so much admiration for this funny, smart lady who is packed to the gunwales with integrity. Also in love with simplythenest for leading the way on real feminism - the kind that empowers just by getting on and doing it, not by selling you something else you don't need. And Avril from A Life to Style and Nikki from MidlifeChic for actually bothering with content and for seeing Instagram for what it is.....

Anyone else want to take a bet on certain influencers no longer posting from their beautiful new kitchens, or their newly refurbished living rooms or bathrooms

I think a number of these reactions really demonstrate what a bunch of self entitled, privileged, spoilt women they are.

The majority of people that have ‘normal’ jobs manage to follow rules and guidance every day in their jobs. Even if they don’t necessarily agree with it. It’s called being professional.

They’ve been in a bubble for so long, with their egos massaged by constant gifts and echo chambers of only positive comments. Anyone who dares to share any negative feedback is blocked, deleted and shut down. The reactions are like children throwing toys out of their prams.

What an embarrassment.

The bloggers are in a right old pickle aren't they?

I can kind of see where Cara Sutherland is coming from to be honest. Absolutely we should expect them to be very clear when they are making money in any way (gifted, affiliate or paid cash or gift vouchers), and none of this slyly hiding it in the corner, or burying it in the middle of a load of other hashtags. But I genuinely struggle to care if any of them have gone and spent their own money at a company who they’ve worked with in the past. They’re not gaining anything from it.

Disagree @YouLikeTheBadOnesToo. Emma Hill recently discussed that many bloggers/influencers buy and tag brands to encourage a business relationship with them. If it’s a straight choice between a brand they’ve never worked with & doesn’t use influencers and one they have and may work with in the future then that has the potential to influence their own buying choice (then influencing what they say about said item). The regs are asking for them to clarify when purchasing recently worked with brands (where there is the existence of a transactional relationship), not one from years ago.
The advice is saying the purchase and subsequent discussion/review is not free from bias if there is an existing relationship.

I’m not totally clear on what the past relationships section is getting at either tbh. From a consumer perspective I think if someone shows a gifted item it should be disclosed as a gift every time it is featured (not just the first time). Agree though that I don’t care if they have spent their own money on a brand that they have worked with in the past on another promotion if the two transactions are completely unrelated. If anything it is reassuring. But I suppose it closes a potential loophole which I’m sure some bloggers and brands would seek to exploit somehow. The CMA guidance is hard to wriggle out of or find loopholes with. The bloggers only have themselves to blame if it feels heavyhanded. Light touch clearly didn’t work, so i have little sympathy for them.

That makes sense Marypoppinjay, thank you!

Surely they have outfits that haven't been gifted?! If they're that fucking confused abbot the rules wear something YOU PAID FOR. Personally we all have to follow the rules and this includes rules re gifts. I'm sorry but the moaning is utter bullshit and exposes how greedy and grabby and unethical their lives have become.

That blog just shows how much of a bubble these people live in. They clearly have no idea how out of touch and patronising they are being

@powergower but if they paid for an item from a brand they previously did a paid for/gifted job with in the last 12 months, and that featured different items from the item they paid for, they still have to make it as AD.

DMBLB40 is being applauded for wearing non gifted items up thread, yet she is wearing a Jigsaw coat which she bought with her own money. However, she has a professional paid/gifted relationship with them and therefore I believe she should have stated that.

My understanding Powergower is that it doesn’t matter if they paid for that outfit. If that company has gifted them something in the last year, anything they buy from them has to be declared as an ad. So if h&m send them a jumper in say January, if they buy a dress form there in September they have to declare it as an ad, even though they’ve bought it themselves (happy to be corrected though)

From the video I saw MaryPoppinjay the influencer (god that’s such a arrogant word!!) didn’t mention the top. It wasn’t tagged. You could barely see it to be honest. But she had to declare it as as ad cos she worked with them (Very, I think) before Christmas. It didn’t feel like transparency to me. It does concern me that’s it going to muddy the waters. That people are gonna be so desensitised to seeing the # on ridiculous things like that, it will lose it’s meaning.

The risk of becoming desensitised is worth it for the extra transparency. That’s only an issue anyway is everything on the feed is AD, which is looking increasingly likely. As I said, if someone who has previously been sponsored by a brand is prepared to fork out independently for something from them, that’s a positive sign for the brand and the influencer. Don’t see the problem with it.

Yeah, I get that. It’s making it very clunky. I guess people will either starting visually ignoring all the # and explanations or will stop consuming that influencers content by not engaging or unfollowing.

Good ‘content providers’ will work through the regs and make it clear yet not clunky. It really can’t be that onerous to spend an additional 2 minutes on top of the ‘hours of work’ it takes them to take a photograph.

#Ad (bought - commercial relationship)
#Ad (gift)
#Ad

Obvs not exclusive or perfect. But this took me 10 seconds to do and it’s not my job. They are being deliberately obtuse and distracting which will only serve to drive followers away.

A paid relationship is any that involves financial payment, services or goods. It isn’t really the followers fault if these people take a lipstick instead of cash.

"meaning everything about me is an Ad"

Everything about your IG page is yes. You are being paid to advertise stuff to your followers, it is a business account so yes.

Is it not true that you only get the swipe up function if you have so many followers and agree to your IG being a business page?

Does anyone know how much an influencer can expect to be paid for a post?

I know its crass to discuss salary but I believe it is relevant. The reason being that I believe the amount paid depends on number of followers, and if people were following because they thought they were providing independent recommendations etc when they were essentially having the wool pulled over their eyes...

I honestly don’t think they started off out to deceive. I assume most people don’t follow explicitly for recommendations (assume it is different for beauty bloggers) but followed for styling tips, ideas and some recommendations. The haziness is that we now know that a LOT of those were biased due to the commercial relationship they had with the brand. The backlash isn’t that it happens but the sheer extent of it and how it has not been disclosed.

Not sure how much they get per post - it probably isn’t as simplistic as number of followers, but any smart agency/brand would look to see engagement as that’s a better gauge of their ‘influence’. Obviously engagement is related to number of followers so it’s a bit circular.

I don’t follow many or possibly any of the below but had a quick look

It’s brilliant.

That whole thing of influencing- and let’s face it it’s built on getting round that classic distrust or objectivity around selling - was built on brands realising they could infiltrate personal spaces. Brands brief agencies (or vice Verda) to go for smaller accounts because people trust them like friends.

This puts in a much needed distancing tool. It’s an ad or gift do you want to buy what is being sold etc

Wonder if other countries will follow (no idea if they do already)

It's going to get interesting then with bland tiles and all the advertising shifting onto stories - this really is demonstrating that these influencers know exactly what they are doing, don't want to fess up and do want to continue.

Yep quite, if people feel duped it’s because they are. Brands / marketers / and some bloggers are trying very hard to dupe and obfuscate because it works.