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.

*too (soz)

The thing I don’t like about af links is when you buy a completely unrelated product & an influencer can still benefit (if you forgot to clear your cookies).

The thing I don’t like about af links is when you buy a completely unrelated product & an influencer can still benefit (if you forgot to clear your cookies).

Exactly. That's why I especially hate anyone that tries to get an Amazon cookie on your device because they know there's a pretty good chance you're buying something from there soon. But the sneaky thing is you don't where the link is taking you until you click on it and by then it's too late.

Sure Erica Davies said that the cookies for Aff link only work for a short space of time (like maybe 15 mins or couple of hours or so) rather than the rumoured 30 days. Could be wrong but she seems fairly straightforward and upfront.

It depends on the affiliate program. I quite like Erica, but she was fairly defensive about the use of affiliate marketing.

Did not know that OrnamentalDiamond. Wonder if the change of tone is recent?

So far this evening I have seen Lisa Dawson painfully admitting her bar area is #gifted (but not used either #gifted or #ad, just ‘this post includes product from previous partnerships) and several other less than transparent interiors bloggers. As somebody said up thread, the #ad gifts become far more obvious by the convoluted ways they try to get around them - talk about drawing attention to the issue and making yourself look shady in the process.

Sorry, Peaches100 said (not just somebody..)

I read rewardstyle was 30 days but don’t know if that’s true.

Yep, I have been slapped down by Erica D for daring to voice an opinion. Instagram ain't no place for dissent or an opinion. Not a place for critical thinking (she is gorgeous though with amazing teeth)

Am truly shocked by the extent of freebies! Have unfollowed them all and it feels cleansing! Imagine if lots of followers did the same , they would be absolutely horrified to see their numbers dropping.

Also Pink House Living. A post today with a picture of her lovely kitchen. Tons of tags and not a single hashtag or mention of ad. When half of it (or more!) is gifted or part of paid collaborations.

I hadn’t thought of the Amazon cookie thing! That really does seem very manipulative/deliberately deceptive.
I have been so surprised at the level of payment/freebies revealed over the last few days. As a direct result I have unfollowed a lot of accounts on IG as it’s clear they’re just selling channels. I will also think a lot more before buying anything given the shady advertising practices many brands seem to employ.
Out of interest, will anyone else on this thread make changes as a result of what has been shown?

Well I’m going to
start using insta again & see how successful I am at finding new people. I don’t follow or even know who half the influencers mentioned on this thread are, & I stopped following others last yr. I think the only influencer I still follow is Sincerely Jules, not opened the app in a year. I’m not interested in insta mums but like fashion & interiors. Kate Moss is on insta now so I’ll follow her if I can find her!

I had previously unfollowed a hell of a lot thanks to prior MN threads. I have very few in the Instamum category now. So I haven't had to unfollow anyone yet.

However @TessDaly (not an Instamum, but a make up account) is on thin ice at the moment because she has so far roundly ignored all of it. And most of her clothes are clearly freebies, from the same few brands over and over. Think head to toe looks from Fashion Nova or Pretty Little Thing. A lot of obviously gifted makeup too. The reason I haven't pulled the trigger yet is simply because I like her personality and she's a cool person. But if she doesn't adopt transparency then sorry Tess but we're gonna have to part ways.

BTW that's not Strictly Tess Daly, a completely different one!

(Kate Moss' Insta is crap I'm afraid. Its @KateMossAgency)

I’ve unfollowed a lot - probably about 40 (was only following less than 300). Mostly interiors and lifestyle/fashion.
Also some others that have popped up on my feed and didn’t even realise I was following. As the usual suspects either aren’t posting or doing minimal posting it has meant I’ve seen more of my feed (largely a good thing)

ElspethFlashman I thought she had a secret personal one?

@Templehead that’s just rude of her! So much info in the post but nothing at all indicating so much of it is gifted/spon/comped. Not even a sniff of acknowledgement.

I'm particularly interested in the impact on plus size bloggers, the majority of whom do not seem to be using #ad or #gifted yet

I loathe many of these bloggers because many of them push the #bodyconfidence or even worse the #fitateverysize or whatever that hashtag is.

I'm pretty certain that we will either see a stop to the gym photos, gymwear clothing, healthy foods etc that these so called #bodyconfident bloggers promote.

And thus proving that they are not really "fit at every size" and instead were getting paid to push a very unhealthy message.

The only thing worse than a blogger being snippy about applying the rules is a blogger who has been blatantly skirting the rules up to now (especially those that have already been ticked off by ASA for lack of transparency) lecturing us on how the new rules work.

With affiliate links, I think when you make a purchase through one, there should be a pop up that says something like "a % of this purchase will be paid to our affiliate partner [name]. Do you wish to proceed?" If I have found the product through a great blog or from some well thought out stories I would probably click through then. As it is, I won't click or swipe up on any blogger links/stories because I hate the way they work.

It does bother me that it is so easy to sneak an affiliate cookie onto your computer. Some bloggers used to send click bait tweets out loaded with affiliate links. Very easy for you to then have one on your computer without you knowing. From what I can see, the Net A Porter AFF links stay on your computer for 30 days and give commission of 6% - not a 'tiny' percentage at all, no matter what they would like us to believe.

@marshaBradya Wonder if other countries will follow (no idea if they do already)
There seems to be a more globally consolidated approach; the latest Canadian guidelines list Australia, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, NZ, Philippines, Romania, Sweden, the Netherlands, the US and the U.K.
www.adstandards.com/en/Standards/Influencer-Marketing-Disclosure-Guideline.pdf

@ornamentaldiamond
Quite recently she complained on stories that American and Australian influencers aren’t required to disclose as much as British influencers.
In Australia, there is no specific requirement to use #ad #spon etc, but it’s recommended if the advertiser has any form of content control The penalty for a complaint is simply being told to remove it - no real teeth

quick look at the plus size bloggers on insta:

Danielle Vanier has only just started to do #ad but doesn't seem to have gone back a few posts and done so with the holiday

Bethany Rutter - just one #ad in the last few posts

Callie Thorpe - fucking hell, how much has she been gifted for her house??? And hiding the hashtags further down the post and still not doing it properly, or only in the last 2/3 posts

lottielamour - only the most recent post which says she bought everything, uh huh and what about all the PLT clothes in the previous posts?

fancy that's the one I've seen her friends use, but she certainly may have.

Wow, flooring (gifted), blow dry (gifted), nails (gifted). Looks like ASOS gift too. The list goes on and on.

West Elm gifts a lot of stuff. That’s another brand that came from nowhere and then is all over Instagram.