Subliminal marketing on Mumsnet

[OhYeahLucky]

Has anyone else been wondering if certain companies have been sneaking a few cheeky “influencer” type posts onto certain threads on MN in the Style and Beauty section in order to sell more of their goods??There’s one group of threads in particular that I’ve been following for quite a while and I’ve seen the content change quite considerably, now becoming dominated by mainly one or two brands. Maybe it’s just a coincidence and a few of the posters just do really like those brands but the conspiracy theorist in me can’t help but wonder if a few of them are either being paid or receiving free goods in exchange for a bit of subtle marketing.

Absolutely! Lucy & Yak and Snag tights - think there are some plants.

Isn't Snag tights struggling financially? I can see a business on its last legs willing to do anything (or even unasked, employees fearing their job security) as will brands trying to start out on a limited PR budget. Think Lindybop is now out of business?

Not on MN (AFAIK) but I know Drunk Elephant and Sunday Riley have both been publicly caught out in hyping their own brands in forums/groups and posting fake reviews as well as trashing (coincidentally each other) competitor brands.

Lucy and Yak, Cos, Toast and Hush. I don't know a single person in real life that rates or wears any of those brands.

I’m actually not as convinced about the beauty ones because I think it’s much more driven by beauty boxes, GWP and swaps. It is for me anyway, that and nice packaging (shallow).

Yy to beauty pie.

@Lily193 I live in COS and Toast! Mind you am a total North London stereotype...

I live in Toast, CoS, Hush as well. With the odd foray into Arket and Other Stories. I haven’t been tempted by Lucy and Yak though. And mole bras, despite there constant presence on here, we’re just about the most uncomfortable garment I’ve ever worn.

Zinnia so many people seem to on here - I guess I'm the odd one out . I'm genuinely puzzled by Lucy and Yak though.

I wear quite a lot of Toast and Charlotte Tilbury, but I don't usually bother commenting because once I happened to mention quite genuinely which mascara I used and a poster very aggressively shouted me down (so to speak) and said that the mascara was crap. I had the feeling that she thought I was a rep of the company, which I am not. And anyway, the mascara is not crap!

My DH is involved with social media marketing for big brands and i can tell you now most brands would kill for a mention on mumsnet so i wouldn't be surprised if some were fake posts to boost a brand or advertise a launch. Im suspicious of beauty pie threads and at one point i did wonder why everyone was buying from white stuff.

I mainly post on here to ask which pants will fit my fat arse or how often people wash their hair etc so defo am not an influencer but i will say i do love snag tights lol.

Lily I'm another Cos fan - they make a wide leg cropped trouser style which I have in pretty much every colour and fabric. They are great for doing the same thing, slightly differently so if you like it, it's an easy buy. I think Cos comes up a lot here because it's pretty divisive. If you look at the website it's easy to write it off because the styling can be a bit odd, but they do some brilliant things, and the quality is (in my experience) very good.

I also buy a lot from Other Stories which is popular on here too, and have the odd thing from Hush, but never again after some really awful knitwear. Lucy and Yak is not for me, but other posters look amazing i their things.

100% certain there are threads started by brand employees.
Lesser known brands who can't afford the advertising but can stick their admin people on a PC to start "what do you think of X brand" And suddenly, a brand nobody is familiar with has a thread where 99% of posters never wear anything else and never has.
Yeah right.

Nothing wrong with it. It's a clever and cheap marketing ploy for the littler brands or brands starting off or brands specialising in one product.

It tends to put me off when it's so obvious though tbh.

I don't believe Cos is one of the brands that do it. I absolutely believe Hush started off on MN by one of their own. Ditto Boden, Me&Em, The Ordinary, Liz Earle, Saltwater.

The Ordinary probably the most of obvious. Check S&B a few years ago when they were starting out.Out of the blue, half the threads in S&B were about The Ordinary and how amazing it was. All different products and at a time when the brand was just being launched, so how did these people know...

But Canterbury, there is something wrong with it - subliminal advertising on MN. It’s possibly cheap and clever (possibly) but it’s advertising under false pretences. At best they’re evading the ASA guidelines/rules.

Apologies ladies, I retract my comment about Cos and Toast. Clearly a lot of support on here for them.

Catherine, yes, suppose so in that respect. They'd never get found out that's the trouble.
I mean ten years or so back, every single MN S&B thread was either Liz Earle or Boden. And it was way before LE was in Boots and JL. But somehow everyone was using it. I was naive at the time and bought into the Boden/LE thing.
But over the last few years it's far more obvious somehow.

A few years ago it was all about Babyliss Big Hair. I bought one and was happy with it but there were so many posts it made me wonder.

Agree Canterbury, it does appear to have become more obvious in recent times. Or maybe we’re just wiser at noticing it.

I think we're getting wiser to it.

There are sometimes wierd trends though that catch on, like the Waitrose baby bottom cream and I remember one year everyone bought really reduced Fly London boots. I ebayed mine, hadn't needed or wanted them but got caught up.

I live in Toast and Cos but think Hush is not great quality fwiw

See I live down on the South coast, I've only heard of most of these brands on S&B on Mumsnet & tbh they're out of my price range- and my friends' too.

I used Liz Earle way before it got into the high street shops. It was on QVC over a decade ago ditto a lot of other beauty brands that are now commonplace like OPI, Elemis and Aveda.

Most definitely predating my mumsnet account I should say too possibly even back to my handbag lurking days.

I work in PR and am aware of influencer marketing. However it seems to me most of the comments on MN are genuine. I am a user of TO products but every tie I place an order I have to email them to ask whether what I have in my basket is suitable to my skin, and once I have a final list of products, I ask them how to use them. Because it can be quite baffling. I do shout about coconut oil as a make up remover, A LOT, but I promise I don't do PR for coconut oil producers! ;-)

I’ve wondered about this before as well, when I see the same brands being touted over and over. I looked at The Ordinary and didn’t know where to start so I’m a bit suspicious about first time buyers with a comprehensive list of things they’ve bought to try.

Not S&B, but those Graze boxes. I haven’t seen it for ages but Quite regularly a post would pop up singing the praises of Graze, always the same kind of Post. ‘it’s so yummy and healthy, dcs love it, you can choose what you have...and here’s my discount code’.