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[heretoreaditall2019]

What’s concerning (me) is that it took me a moment to see what was wrong the picture ie that’s it not a real kitchen! Just why would you go to a Kitchen place for wardrobes?!

because a carpenter - who is actually capable of producing gorgeous fitted wardrobes - would have expected paying

 

[Red1234]

I just thought I'd pop on over here to see if he'd mentioned the black lives matter movement, you know seeing as his wife is a racist! Bit of a funny position to be in for him isn't it after what she got caught saying!! Did wonder how he'd play that out. Bet there's some pretty awkward conversations had in that house since she was outed! Personally think they should have both just come off social media and faded away back to a normal life but obviously the money to spend on 'things' is too important for them.

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

I sent farrow and ball a message and they said they hadn’t worked with her since 2016, they know they’re being tagged but didn’t ask to be and won’t engage with them. The tone made it seem like F and B were pissed off with being associated with them.

Lmaoooo - this is gold. How embarrassing, I wonder if Clem will continue to tag

 

[Axatogrind]

Am I the only one who thinks he’ll keep at it?

I think he'll carry on too. One or two low key 'nature's photo frame' type uncontroversial posts and then back to being the usual poor man's Timmy Mallett. Time will tell!

 

[heretoreaditall2019]

This thread has moved fast and others have said it better than I will already but I did want to reply directly to you! Because YES, this is it. You and I look at their jobs and their surface resemblance to us and so we think their lifestyle can easily be ours. Which is a GIANT LIE. And that’s before you start moving on to all those vulnerable people who are taken in by the must-haves and the relatability and the ‘genuine’ recommendations. I assume we are their real target, with enough disposable income that we can access a bit of what’s being flogged, when in reality it leads to pressure on our finances, and all that that involves (including mental health issues, which are, like, so very close to FoD’s heart).

And then other accounts have their own demographics, for those with lower incomes, and lower priced goods, but the sheer volume of it all leads to the same place.

And every influencer will also be playing to those who are not their intended customers but instead really can’t afford any of it, and get into even more serious trouble.

Sorry, all the above has been endlessly rehearsed already; it’s not new. It’s no revelation. But it’s a business, not genuine social networking, and the SoDs were essentially sacked back in November and just haven’t faced up to it.

Omg the gateway drugs thing is really interesting & not something I've ever thought of before, but also SO FUCKING TRUE? I've seen SO many accounts 'elevate' away from ASOS hauls into Anthropologie, cooking organic food, and these are normal girls who used to be receptionists like wtf you surely can't believe all this shit is necessary?

I also think the dangerous thing around the motherhood is identity and the sense of loss? It's something I really heavily recognise in myself at the mo, I'm heavily pregnant, been royally cunted off by my employer and already know I don't have a job I could go back to and retain any level of self respect, so my whole way of life is about to change. This makes me sound awful and like one of them but old working professional TM me would spend Friday night browsing Liberty & Carnaby Street, probably buy a dress or a pair of shoes, go out for dinner for one, then tottle home feeling giddy with excitement at my latest purchase - undeniably vacuous but a normal part of being in your 20s?

I'm now about to become a mum for the first time, this shit no longer matters and tbh is off the cards for me. We are lucky in that I could sustain that level of purchasing power but... all interest in that left the minute I found out I was pregnant, which is weird init? Maybe I was just bored? I've not even engaged in buying maternity wear (outside of 1x jeans, 1 x dungarees)! Whilst I don't regret the money I've spent previously, my priorities are now just nesting down & opportunities to travel as a young fam & making baby some savings/pensions (compounding init). I've lived the old life for nearly a decade and now it'll be parked, and that's the natural progression but marketeers/strategists/influencers are part of brand ~strategies to re-capture that defected ex-professional now mum market into upping their annual wardrobe spend again by calling back to their 'lost' youth!

I'm sure if I let these people get into my head, on the nights where my nipples are in agony and I'm leaking from downstairs and my baby's been sick on her brand new cream carpet I'd feel like another Stine Goya dress would fix me but it won't. And then I guess it's like chasing the dragon there after, if that dress made you feel 10% better maybe the 'matching' Grensons will help you get closer to 100%? Or the gold initial necklaces, it's totally fine because it's got YOUR baby's initials on it! And before you know it you're spending *more* than when you were working full time and the stress of that is also adding to your poor mental health which compels you to purchase again! Which is exactly why I'm safeguarding myself and blocking them all ahead of the shit show, even bought a kindle (capitalism lolz) to push me to read instead of the deathly insta scroll.

Also lol @ being fired, it's fucking true.

 

[caitlinbullen]

I'm just going to leave this here...

If only he would mute himself permanently!

 

[HensInTheSkirting]

I have maintained a socially distanced space between myself & FOD/House’o’horrors. BUT This black square and hashtag has angered me.
Why turn comments off? Why not engage in those conversations. Let your wife respond to all those comments. They are the epitome of white MC who couldn’t give a damn about equality. They care only of the sponsors, freebies and privilege.
I despise them.

 

[Wolf359]

They’re all awful. All of them. SODs, Candice, Susie V, Budget Clem...
It’s like how the sort of people who want to be politicians are absolutely the last sort of people who should be politicians because they’re, power-hungry narcissists.
If you’re an influencer or have any kind of nurtured, large instagram following, by default that flags you up as someone with monstrous self-regard and ego. If you weren’t a narcissist you would abhor that kind of attention and never seek it out in the first place.
They can all fuck off IMO. Even the ‘good’ ones. The sign of a truly ‘good’ person is that they’re not on Instagram at all.

 

[Kermy5]

Seen a few people mentioning him like this today. His black square screams ignorance right now.

 

[Affiliatemebaby]

this is interesting, thank you! I’m going purely by weird journalists where you read pieces on shipping them off to boarding school or requiring multiple full time nannies to deal with them. The write up in that ad is odd & ive seen them write similar on their socials, I find it really uncomfortable, how do they enforce these zones?!

I’m not advocating living in a plastic tat war zone but having made the choice to get pregnant I’m aware I’m now sharing my beloved home with a kid for at least 18 years? Obviously your bedroom / areas will still be yours but I wouldn’t refer to it as an oasis of calm AWAY from X or exclusively ours, your baby / toddler / kiddies are naturally welcome there for cuddles and a chat surely? Just peculiar.

I am not remotely posh but know a lot of properly posh people and I’d say they are as varied as everyone else in their views and inclinations! I’d say very broadly (and this may be true only of those I know because the ways I’ve met them demand it) that they have a lot more confidence than the average person, which I do envy.

Count me in though as someone who likes a child-free bathroom. I have an en-suite at the moment so do get to use a relatively clean sink but would kill to be able to have a bath without having to tidy up a million plastic toys, clean it thoroughly and not have the pervasive smell of constant unflushed poo throughout!

And while I love my children very much, even with the current 24 hours a day togetherness we have, when they were very tiny, I felt very ‘touched out’ and shattered at time from their need to be always with me. So something that is ‘away’ from kids, whatever that is, is so valued. It’s not about rejecting your kids but just having some mental space. Of course most of us don’t have actual rooms to do that which brings me back to those baths...

 

[SockPuppet2020]

It’s saying it doesn’t exist, has she been reading here?...

Looks like it! The grabs are in her thread but here are a few of them (the internet doesn't forget, Susie)

 

[Emmadale]

This is still on insta.

She’s owning it.

 

[AutumnDays]

They wanted to ‘inject some fun into the room and give their guests a room they’ll remember’. There’s nothing fun about that room but guests will remember it alright - as a room with wallpaper that would give you a headache and just too much of the colour pink and brass. It’s a dull and dour room.

 

[Tothemoonandback]

 

[Affiliatemebaby]

You’ve articulated it far better than I could have. I’m not suggesting for one minute they’ll be on the breadline but like, have to actually consider the relative utility of their disposal income for once? Like this meal out with the family versus a new fancy iron, they’re not doing a Jack Monroe and selling lightbulbs and plastic dinosaurs but just re entering normal society. And they clearly would rather not!

The holidays were always absolutely ridiculous. I always thought we spent a fair whack on ours but £10k+ for a week in a self contained resort (eg outside of an amazing safari experience) is obscene, no one who works for their money (eg isn’t old money / family office cash) can justify that imo? I’d spend all week so anxious about making the most of that holiday cos of the price that I’d end up having a shit time anyway.

This thread has moved fast and others have said it better than I will already but I did want to reply directly to you! Because YES, this is it. You and I look at their jobs and their surface resemblance to us and so we think their lifestyle can easily be ours. Which is a GIANT LIE. And that’s before you start moving on to all those vulnerable people who are taken in by the must-haves and the relatability and the ‘genuine’ recommendations. I assume we are their real target, with enough disposable income that we can access a bit of what’s being flogged, when in reality it leads to pressure on our finances, and all that that involves (including mental health issues, which are, like, so very close to FoD’s heart).

And then other accounts have their own demographics, for those with lower incomes, and lower priced goods, but the sheer volume of it all leads to the same place.

And every influencer will also be playing to those who are not their intended customers but instead really can’t afford any of it, and get into even more serious trouble.

Sorry, all the above has been endlessly rehearsed already; it’s not new. It’s no revelation. But it’s a business, not genuine social networking, and the SoDs were essentially sacked back in November and just haven’t faced up to it.

 

[Titfer]

Had to laugh at this comment on the rocket/sky post.... there isn't anything natural about aerospace

 

[sunflower]

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.

Sorry just wanted to add about your friend as an example, they’ll ply you with “entry level” goods first. Pocket money, things under £20 like t shirts, a brand of gin or a book. Then when you realise you’re still not “in the club” it’ll be £50 - shoes, a new jacket, a tin of F&B paint....next you’re forking out hundreds on Bestival tickets and thinking your family holiday and kitchen is really shit compared to everyone else’s.

But it’s the little bits which add up. It’s how Mrs Hinch did it - entry level goods like plastic baskets and Zoflora which her audience can slip in the shopping trolley or do a “cheeky” buy on eBay. She created a community and no one wants to feel left behind.

Certain clothing labels also do it with Facebook groups for their customers. You see everyone else buying the new seasons workout gear and you wonder why you can’t afford it and surely you deserve it too.

Honestly it’s criminal.

 

[HarderFaster]

Although I would be delighted (and a lot more productive at work, as I could log out of Tattle occasionally) if a number of influencers including Slymon and House of Horrors were cancelled and left the internet, I think they're shockingly resilient.

Like cockroaches in a nuclear apocalypse, they seem able to weather any storm. I think a sad fact is that, for so many of their followers, race is a non-issue. Not sure how many overlap with the Jack Monroe thread but we had murder last night after some comments which showed how behind many people still are on race etc. For those who aspire to lead bland, consumerist lives where politics and injustice barely factor, the SoDs are the pinnacle of success.

Hope that didn't come across as bleak, because I am genuinely hopeful that many people will be educated (even fucking ultimate true neutral Zoella is posting BLM resources ffs). But there will always be a hardcore apolitical fanbase for Sly and Clam.

 

[Lipsofchicken]

Why on earth would you need such an expanse of worktop in a dressing room? What’s she cooking up in there? I can’t believe (well, maybe I can) the state of the drawer - why would you expose your undergarments to the world. Such fucked up desperation. As for the big gold C on the wall, just WHY??? No style. Big style!

 

[Pocahontas]

We’ve been bracing ourselves for the end multiple times but this one sure looks like a winner. What are we gonna do once this is over ?!

This feels .. momentous. It has a very grand, cathartic feeling about it all. They thought they could swim against the tide if they ignored the undertow - but now the swell is too huge and the rats are fleeing the sinking ship!