Instagrammers and Influencers

[scotx]

New thread to follow on from this one

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/3462129-Can-we-chat-about-fashion-Instagrammers-influencers?msgid=84590932

I think the whole situation is confusing for influencers AND their audience. Influencers say that #ad is unfair if they aren’t getting paid cash for a particular post; that they won’t be able to generate content without #gifted items and that it is too onerous and ultimately irrelevant to publish details of every potential #ad item their posts.
Followers on the other hand are now realising just how much of influencers content is made up of advertising for brands and their argument that it is too difficult to disclose all their freebies sounds like they are complaining that their diamond shoes are too tight.

I don’t care that much whether an influencer received cash for a lipstick review or “just” a free lipstick, the fact that they didn’t pay for it changes how I view their statements about the brand. As PP have noted, it’s much easier to “love” something when you have received it for free ! And this isn’t new, essentially these influencers have been breaking the advertising regulations for years by pretending to be customers.

This has also made me realise how much free work brands are getting from influencers. For the stock price of a few hundred lipsticks they can run a really effective marketing campaign.
There is something that feels quite sexist about this whole industry. Women putting in tons of effort to mislead other women about the merits of products and force them into a glut of consumerism without even getting fairly paid for it. I think the whole notion of “gifting” plays into this, it’s making it seem like the influencers are receiving little presents, not that they are getting paid in kind for a piece of work that involves murky disclosure and misleading people who trust their honesty and integrity. It really is an ugly business.

Agree on the sexist nature of it. Which is why promoting the ‘sisterhood’ while simultaneously betraying it is all sorts of wrong

Women putting in tons of effort to mislead other women about the merits of products and force them into a glut of consumerism without even getting fairly paid for it.

Thank you for articulating clearly what makes me feel uncomfortable as well.

For some reason wearetwinset have reverted back to a snappy caption with no disclosure, which is a bit weird after suddenly embracing transparency.

Their likes must have plummeted....
@chiaramontague you articulated my feelings so well. This is exactly what Ive thought.

The likes don't look that out of whack with the norm. Their follower numbers continue tor rise at a decent rate. They don't look to have been affected at all.

That little spree (urgh, how twee) has boiled my piss. The comparison between the gifts she gets now and those at the magazines is a false dichotomy. First, the magazines will have recorded everything coming in and paid gift tax on it - that will be factored into their business model (and probably factored into her ‘meagre pay’ with them - being allowed to take home a ££££ handbag is part of your pay!) and in a magazine it is clear what’s an ad. They have promotional feature at the top or they say in the text.

She’s only addressing a third of the issue. People want to know she won’t just sell anything - she’s offered some reassurance. But people also want transparency about what’s an ad and ppl want to know you’re paying tax.

And claiming you would have bought it anyway is easy to do if you’re accepting a gift and paying 20% tax rather than weighing up the RRP.

Women putting in tons of effort to mislead other women about the merits of products and force them into a glut of consumerism without even getting fairly paid for it.

Very much agree with this. And switched on influencers should be taking a stand and saying to brands ‘me featuring your product clearly works well for you so if you want to work with me I charge £££’ and not accepting gifts. By allowing themselves to be paid in gifts and vouchers they are blocking this from becoming legitimate.

I’m sure they do earn from this don’t they? Per post above a certain number of followers

That’s why it’s such hot demand for followers and the creation of click farms in India etc

I agree with the glut of consumerism and image dressed up in awful strong women phrases

Getting paid more will make it worse though

Getting paid will drive to down - you can gift 2000 lipsticks, you can’t pay 2000 influencers a realistic wage.

I don’t really think this should be a think. But if they want to be modern day Avon ladies it needs to be professionalised.

• be a thing

You can’t pay a wage but as an influencer you can earn £x per post. It can add up pretty quickly

The more you look, the more people are getting sent stuff. Sam Baker got sent some books by a publisher this morning. Should she be more clear about that relationship?

And what about Australian lifestyle bloggers? I follow one who moved there from London and she rarely tags anything gifted although sometimes mentions it was sent to her. Is that enough?

@Underparmummy Totally agree. How can this be something to aspire to? How did we get to this point? They bleat on about how hard they work to provide us with content as if it's some kind of proper job. In the real world most people don't have the time to post hundreds of stories from their car/house/changing room or go on lots of lovely lunches/constant holidays as they are actually working.
Also if they are doing a frugal/no-spend month do they still accept gifts? I could quite easily not spend a penny if I was receiving piles of lovely clothes, candles, toiletries, kids clothes. In fact that would be preferable to my bank balance.

Love the comparison! High end glamourised Avon lady.... why is it so difficult to own up to the fact they are professional salespeople? Do they feel ashamed????

I think because that's less aspirational than the 'freelance writing/stylist' schtick they go with!

templehead - I would love a constant stream of presents through the door!

The transparency around relationships is going to be very interesting.

CMA - Past relationships matter too. Even if you don’t have a current relationship with a brand, if there was a past relationship (or you received product loans, gifts and/or other incentives) people need to know about this

So if the influencer runs an agency or is consulting for a brand (quite likely many beauty influencers), it will need to be addressed each time.

I think this is very important, if someone is pushing an expensive face cream I would like to know if they have a commercial relationship with the brand.

This is such a great discussion, I really agree with what @ChiaraMontague said. (I wish we could like posts on here!)

I also keep bringing it back to the MLM element, to really make money with these companies you need to work up to higher levels by not just selling the product to your friends but by selling the job role.
That is what this lot are doing, all the likes, comments, interactions doesn’t just make people buy the products it makes them buy the lifestyle....I can be an influencer too....yuck!

I think the word 'influencer' is quite problematic. It sounds as though they are gently encouraging us in the direction of lovely things they have curated from their position at the cutting edge of future trends. When in fact their business model is fairly old fashioned and relies on creating need for the same old stuff. It might be preferable to just say that they are in (advertising and) sales. Not as glamorous sounding but that's what it is. And I say that as someone who really does enjoy following some of them as a distraction from 'life' - but now with my eyes wide open and in the sure knowledge that I am not their friend, I am their target market.

As an aside, increasingly I do not feel 'influenced' to buy the specific stuff they wear/recommend not least because their lifestyles are often so different to mine - but I do know that in following some big accounts I probably am influenced just to want more stuff, generally. Since I've been following insta I definitely have a much bigger wardrobe but I've realised that I increasingly have this impulse to buy more clothes that I just like the look of despite having no real need at all, partly because I work from home a lot. It's funny how fashion influencers sort of legitimise that impulse for more - I've had to row back on it as I was getting slightly sick of myself and my compulsive over-consumption. Anyway, I am glad I have had experience of it as this is the world my kids are growing up in and I hope I can help them navigate it a little.

Went off to have a look at Lilypebbles (mentioned somewhere up thread). She apparently doesn't like the word 'gift'. But she isn't able to think of a more relevant word (how about ad?). Of course she would have bought ALL the gifted stuff herself anyway. And in further good news (not at all to manage any potential backlash) she'll be doing some charity work later in the year. 🙄

I fundamentally disagree with their argument of “I love it, I would have bought it anyway!”. Given the sheer volumes of gifts, unless they have huge disposable income, they couldn’t have bought it all themselves. It’s an easy get out.

The scrambling in the dust for justifications is unedifying. Own the fact you got stuff for free. Be grateful you are in a position to get stuff for free that people either save for or have absolutely no hope of ever having.

It has already been mentioned upthread, but a sofa doesn't just land in your P.O. Box. If you have been to the shop, tried the items out, picked & measured, looked at colour combinations. Then 'storied' the sofa arriving, photographing & posting pictures across your social media, adding tags and the brandname many times.

This is very clearly an AD, yet this week I saw one added as a PR sample/gift???

Claiming things are a PR sample is just another way of wiggling out. If it’s a sofa then surely a sample would go back to the brand after photography. It’s clearly an AD.

I don't think the gifting labelling and mentality will stop unless the HMRC take action against someone for unpaid tax on gifts. There is such a clear flooring of the rules going on I wonder why they bothered 'clarifying' the position anyway! And the aver projected at followers is completely out of order. It's like they are waiting for someone to call them out so they can lynch them, supported of course by those lower down the mlm scheme.