Why mommy bloggers shouldn’t endorse fake products? This is a question that often gets ignored by a lot of new bloggers who are trying to become successful influencers too soon.
Whether you are a new mommy blogger or one of the more established mommy influencers, you have a huge responsibility towards your readers & audience. And this is in itself a reason enough to not play with that trust and faith of your readers.
Let us discuss this issue in detail in this blog post.
Why Mommy Bloggers Shouldn’t Endorse Fake Products?
Before going forward to find out the reasons why it is not a productive thing to endorse fake products, let us understand the role of a mom blogger & how product endorsements come into the entire picture of blogging & blog monetization too.
Role of Mom Bloggers
Conventionally, a mommy blogger is a creative person who writes or blogs about her kids, her journey as a mom, about motherhood problems and joys, trials and tribulations, sharing tips and techniques that can help other moms and parents to raise their kids.
Lately, we are also seeing a lot of mom bloggers breaking the boundaries and talking about micro Niches like traveling with kids, kids’ photography, food for kids, craft ideas for kids, etc.
Therefore in their journey of blogging, they tend to suggest/advise and share products from which other fellow moms and readers can benefit. And since readers trust the blogger, they end up also trusting their recommendations too.
Ideally, these should be the products that the mom bloggers are actually using and finding good & helpful in their mom journey. But hey sometimes the hunger to make money outgrows the authenticity & few bloggers do end up recommending products that they are being paid for.
And the audience and users who trust the blogger do end up taking their recommendations seriously and investing their resources in these products too.
So, this is how it is important for mom bloggers to be conscious of the recommendations they make & not endorse sub-standard or fake products however attractive the brand fee be.
Top 6 Reasons Why Mom Bloggers should not Endorse Fake Products
Here are my 6 powerful reasons of why Mom Bloggers must not endorse fake or sub-standard products. Also, I want to point out that this is one of the common mistakes that mom bloggers do that can make or break their entire business.
| 1. Unethical and Immoral |
| 2. Sets a bad precedent for your blogging business |
| 3. Legally, it is an offence too |
| 4. By endorsing fake products, you are supporting low-quality counterfeit industry |
| 5. It may mean quick money for you but you are setting a wrong example as a mother |
| 6. You are risking people trust and sometimes their lives with your fake reviews |
It is Unethical & Immoral To Endorse Fake Products
Each of us has some moral and social responsibilities. More so, in the case of mom bloggers and influencers! You just cannot say or do or recommend anything and everything. You are morally responsible for giving the right picture to your audience and first verify the product that you are recommending to your followers.
Agreed that your earnings go up when you partner with a brand and promote its products, but to endorse fake and bogus products raises a big question on the morality and ethics of the blogger/influencer.
It Sets a Bad Precedent for your Blogging Business
Why mommy bloggers shouldn’t endorse fake products? Because you are risking your years of hard work by doing so! Building the blog and getting it to a level where it is now has been a tough job, right?
By endorsing fake brands and products, you put to stake all that hard work and razing everything to the ground in one-go – all that years of waking up early and staying awake late, that compromise on your time and choosing to blog over your kids, and other forms of sacrifices are destroyed in one strike, the moment you choose to go endorsing the wrong products.
It leaves a bad taste and risks losing a credible number of your followers! Not the right precedent that you are setting for your blog!
Legally, it is an offense too
With the number of fake endorsements by mom influencers and influencers overall on the rise, different laws and legal variations have been drafted to ensure that such endorsements are stopped.
- In India, under the Consumer Protection Act, bloggers and influencers can be sued for fake promotion.
- In the US, there are strict influence marketing rules from the FTC where bloggers need to disclose if they are earning or are they endorsing products for free.
In the US, the Federal Trade Commission makes it mandatory for bloggers and influencers to disclose if the posts and product recommendations are paid or free. This is to feature under the Disclosure Policy and is meant for improving transparency between the bloggers/influencers and the followers.
Overall, it is important to know that the laws in most countries have been amended and now litigations are possible, you can be sued and taken to the court for endorsing fake products.
By Endorsing Fake products, You are Supporting Low-Quality Counterfeit Industry
In the digital age, quality scores high – most consumers today are well informed and know where to put their money. You must align with and support the interest of your followers to choose good and better quality products.
However, by endorsing fake products, you are supporting brands that compromise on quality and do not follow prescribed standards of production. This is again setting a wrong precedent – one that only shows you and your blog in poor light.
Remember, your followers are intelligent too. They will move away fast when they realize that you are promoting poor quality products and services.
It May Mean Quick Money for You but You are Setting a Wrong Example as a Mother too
Why mommy bloggers shouldn’t endorse fake products? Because you are setting the wrong example for your kids! Remember, kids today are smart and learn fast.
As they grow and understand that their mom is endorsing the wrong products, they will think that this is normal – giving them the wrong learnings and skills. As a mother, you would not want to do so.
You are Risking People’s Trust and Sometimes Their Lives too with Your Fake Reviews
Coming back to your responsibility, remember that your followers are an extension of your family. You would not use the wrong product on your kids or family members, right? Similarly, by endorsing the wrong product, you are putting the life of your followers at risk.
And this holds true for the customers too!!
These are the people who trust you like their very own. You just cannot recommend any product or service that you will not try for yourself or your kids.
However having said this it is also important for us to know how this entire Influencer Industry functions, in order to completely understand the power these mom influencers hold.
So before we start let us understand who are Mom influencers.
Mommy Influencers & Endorsements
An influencer is someone who has the potential or ability to influence another person’s decisions. The other person, in this case, is mostly a stranger, not even an acquaintance. Mommy influencers are therefore moms who command credibility in their community, amongst followers and readers.
These are the people who are similar to mom bloggers – they share their experiences, tips, and concepts, give opinions and feedback that are regarded as genuine and indisputable. These are people who create immensely engaging content for others in the mom community.
Since they command such respect and are held in such high esteem by their followers, mom influencers are now part of the promotional campaigns of many brands, endorsing and promoting many products and services across different platforms.
Are Mom Bloggers & Mom Influencers the same?
Mom bloggers and influencers are different. While most bloggers can be considered to be influencers, not all influencers are bloggers. Most mom influencers have started their career as mom bloggers. These women have grown their blogs so big in the past few years that their blogs are big businesses today. However, many influencers did not start with a blog. They have grown big because of their social media presence and have been able to monetize their virtual existence effectively.
Mom Influencer Industry
The mommy influencer industry has this distinct ability to sway other moms towards recommended products and services, and therefore today is one of the rapidly growing industry, worldwide. Mom influencers are a great force to reckon with; and there are millions of such influencers. After all, influencer marketing is the technological version of conventional word-of-mouth publicity.
When mom influencers speak good about a product, it is not another celebrity that is recommending a product, it is a real-time mom who has experienced its benefits upfront, that is sharing the review. Hence, it makes things relatable for other moms and readers, followers, and the audience.
I Only Endorse Products that I have Used & Liked
We have now understood Why mommy bloggers shouldn’t endorse fake products? Because a lot is at risk. Your reputation, your credibility, your hard work, the life of your followers, the welfare and well-being of your family members, and that of the followers; everything is at stake.
So, be careful when choosing to endorse brands and products and behave responsibly. There are enough reasons why you should not endorse and promote fake and dubious products on your blog, vlog, or channel; but, one of the important reasons is that it is not an ethical way to grow big. Also, remember ‘what goes around comes around’!
One of the best strategies to adopt as a mom blogger is to only endorse products that you have first-hand experience with. As a policy, this is what I do at Mom Chipper. We consider product endorsements & brand associations carefully and go ahead with only those products that I have personally used and liked.
Trust & Authenticity are the Fundamental Pillars of Blogging Business
Being Authentic & Ethical are the strong foundations that I have built this business upon and I feel that’s the way to do it if you really want authentic & fulfilling success in your venture.
In fact, I have another very valid point that I can sell this Trust and Authenticity on. Let me tell you this one fact here and now. If you plan your business (be it in any industry) on these strong values of trust authenticity & genuine concern for your customers, this has a great potential to become your core competency in the long run.
Yes, you can actually differentiate yourself from all the others and position yourself as a leader in your industry. Because authenticity & genuine concern pass through you and your customers are always able to feel it and see it as well. They value it and want to be associated with brands their own value sets align with.
So just try this out, and if you see value in this, do let me know what you feel in the comments below. I would really love to connect with you and experience your take on this, ” Why Mom Bloggers should not Endorse Fake & Sub-standard Products” to their Audiences.
In the meantime, stay Chippery & stay true to your Core!!