Panorama – Million Pound Selfie Sell Off – A Response

As a blogger, a micro influencer, or a social media Mum, I watched with interest tonight’s episode of “Panorama – Million Pound Selfie Sell Off” with interest, all about the rise of social media Influencers and the concerns about whether advertising via social media platforms is clear enough. Do consumers know what is an advert and what’s not? Are big brands sticking to the rules? Are brands taking advantage of the trust that is built with influencers, and in reality are bloggers really trusted at all?

I thought it would be helpful to response with my thoughts, particularly as in recent weeks there have even some major changes into how advertising and brand relationships need to be disclosed according to the Advertising Standards Agency (the UK regulator).

When I set up my blog back in 2013, when expecting my first child, I did so because as a first time Mum I didn’t have a clue what to expect. I wanted to share my experiences and insights as and when I had them, to hopefully help other Mums (and Dads) when they faced similar situations. I wanted to share what worked for us, what didn’t, the products we loved and the ones that simply weren’t necessary. At the time I didn’t think about advertising, about press samples or promotions, I just wanted to write.

Obviously over the years the way I write on the blog has changed. I am lucky enough that I do now get approached by brands, I do publish product reviews where I receive a product sample, and I do work on paid content, where a brand pays me to publish an image and caption on my social channels. This said, my thoughts remain the same – I share content on products that I actually love – that I use, that I trust and that I know I can hand on heart recommend to my followers. Even if I was offered money, I wouldn’t promote on my social channels something which was rubbish, that fell apart on the first use, or that would embarrass me if I bumped into someone later who had bought because of my recommendation. Look on my Instagram feed now and you will see ads for products that I genuinely use and love, including Rescue Remedy, LEGO, Stationery products and chips. They are real posts, real experiences and images from our lives – styled of course, but genuine.

The issue appears to come in when some of these huge influencers promote a product, without fully knowing what it is, what it does or what they are promoting – proven my Morgz promoting a gambling site to his largely under 18 audience, or share social posts that are unethical, targeted at vulnerable people or simply bombard their audiences with content that is fake, unclear or undisclosed. I wasn’t surprised to hear about brands contacting people without even bothering to see if their brand was a good fit – only today one of my blogger friends was contacted by a diet food brand despite having openly written about her eating disorders in the past. It would’ve only taken 5 minutes of research to realise that this lady certainly did NOT need to use diet products, and nor would she be likely to promote them. I have seen first hand brands becoming obsessed with the numbers, and as such, it’s always a pleasant surprise when a brand contacts you that you actually do have an affinity with, actually would be proud to promote, or even better already use with your family.

The Panorama episode also highlighted the risks of promoting to such a vulnerable audience, and in my case whilst there are no youngsters likely to be reading my content there are likely to be new Mums, Mums who may be struggling with post partum depression, Mums who may be comparing themselves to others, and Mums who are trying their best to get through the challenging times of being a parent.

Whilst I am a drop in the ocean compared to the influencers featured on this show, I do still take my blog quite seriously. As a blogger, I am keen to ensure I share a mixture of my highs and lows – I don’t ever pretend to find parenting easy – and try to share the warts and all experiences of parenthood – the ups and downs that all of us experience along the way. I hope that my followers trust what I write is open and authentic, but am concerned that these stricter rules will do the opposite.

In recent months the ASA have been investigating a number of celebrities who haven’t been transparent and disclosed their advertising relationships appropriately, and now have published some very clear guidelines about the way in which products should be disclosed.

However, my concern is this – it appears to have gone from one extreme to the other. I have been using disclosures on my posts for some time – noting if I have received a product in exchange for my opinions, or if I have been paid for writing a post. I use #AD on paid for Instagram posts, but for product reviews tended to use #review – hoping that this would be clear to my readers which ones were likely to have brand influence over my writing.

Now however AD has to be on anything for which I have either a) received a product b) received money or c) had a previous relationship with the brand or even d) been sent something for which I didn’t ask and didn’t agree to publish content for. In fact they would go so far as to say that any image with any previously gifted product in needs to be marked as an ad, to make it clear to my followers that something in their could be deemed as a promotion.

For me, this goes far to far, and implies to my followers that nearly everything I write is an AD, and risk making my readers feel like everything I say is paid promotion, and reducing the authenticity of my content and whether or not you trust what I write. This makes me really sad, as it goes against the whole reason I created the blog in the first place.

So for my regular readers, the ones who have followed me from the beginning, or even the ones that are new here – Here’s what the hashtags actually mean in my posts.

• #AD – means I have been financially compensated to post on behalf of a client, to include a link or to promote a product service or event. For the majority of these posts at least, I have still had complete freedom to write what I like, put things in my own words, and decide upon my own image, simply using a specified hashtag or highlighting a particular feature in my copy.
• #AD #REVIEW – means that the item was sent to me in exchange for my product review. You will notice that my reviews have both pros and cons and I am under no obligation what so ever to say positive things. If I don’t like a product, I will say. If I think something can be done better I will say. If I think it’s amazing I will say. The product being sent to me does not effect the detail of the review.
• #AD #Gifted – is when I have been sent a product with no obligation to post on social media, but chosen to do so. Again no payment has been made, but I have received a product without paying for it.
• #AD #Presstrip – is when I have been invited to attend an event or travel visit without payment, and am promoting the event on my social channels. It is still a real experience, occurring live in most cases and therefore a transparent experience of said event.
• #AD #Previouslygifted – This one is ridiculous, but I will be having to use going forward where a post contains a product which I received as one of the other four options above. Madness.

At the end of the day, I am just a Mum. A mum supporting her family where I can and working bloody hard to do so. I don’t want to mislead anyone, sell them something that they wont enjoy or make them feel inadequate. But please don’t assume that anything with an #AD disclosure is fake content, because that simply isn’t the case. If you ever want to ask any questions about the reviews or content I share on my pages please do, and I will happily respond to all of them. I would love to maintain your loyalty.

Lucy

#notanad 😉