If any “influencer” is making you feel inadequate you’ve got to stop and wonder what they’re trying to sell you.
Unfortunately that’s how people sell - find a problem (in MODs case, mothers who have lost their way in some way) remind them of that problem, then show people that they have the solution and it’s going to cost, but hey, I’m your friend because I’m a mum too, and I’m to be trusted because I’m a midwife. And look at my gorgeous children and my stylish (!) clothes. I have the coolest friends and there’s no need to feel lonely if you join our gang of #mamas. You too can have it all of you buy into this...
It’s exploiting women, plain and simple.
Omg 100000000% this. I am not joking when I say they are genuinely our enemy, they’re the most insidious form of sales / brand comms and they’re genuinely dangerous. Sorry to say it yet again but @myfrugalyear on insta’s book has an entire chapter on them and it should be like mandatory reading for every young woman in this country so we can see the wood for the trees. The ASA is failing an entire generation of women (and tbh I’m sure cross generations! But the IVA data shows that it’s growing fastest in younger women) in their lax approach to regulating the industry.
Again if you look at MFY’s account and read the comments, or nosy on their profiles, you see there’s a whole community on insta of women who are documenting their debt management journey. So many of them have been ~influenced into this unsustainable lifestyle, by women who get it all for free! As someone else on this thread said about their holiday, if you see someone who “looks like you” doing these things you assume it’s safe to proceed. The influencers aren’t there for the rest of your tight year, or worse when you have to call Barclays up cos you’re over your overdraft limit.
Like it really winds me up, and makes me angry, I’m not debt shaming or saying it’s impossible to recover from (the opposite, I want women to be protected from something that is awfully inhibitive to your life progressing and damaging to your mental health), however I can say without a doubt that Instagram has changed the course of my sister’s life? Yes there is personal accountability but I think insta is so intoxicating - she followed 1.3k different accounts FILLED with images of just... stuff to buy. She got into a debt that’s higher than her gross annual income in buying bits, like nothing mental like Chanel bags were literally just talking makeup palettes and outfits it was just the sheer volume of it. She’s had to enter a DMP that’ll take her a decade to pay off. She then gets to start at 0 at 40, she’s on an avg income so what are the chances of her being able to buy a house? Most mortgages don’t let your term exceed you being 65, so she either needs a huge deposit or huge monthly repayments - neither of which are viable. That’s going to be the reality for a fair few of these guys’ audiences!
And sorry to rant but this isn’t even getting into how disgusting it is to target pregnant women. I’m going through this stage now and it’s a constant battle in what do we NEED versus what are we being told we need or feel guilted into buying. I’m actually speaking a lot to older women to ask for recommendations because I know they’re not tainted by the cult of insta mama. I have the benefit of years of therapy and a stark warning in my life and I still find it an utterly exhausting exercise, most women are struggling through their pregnancies just trying to do what they think is best for baby and being cruelly duped. It’s a horrible and shameful industry that doesn’t yield anything positive other than lining the pockets of the chosen few.
