Paid blogger influence ‘troubling’

You don’t have to look far to find a ‘‘mummy blogger’’ waxing lyrical about Kmart. The chain’s renaissance and cultlike popularity, particularly among the mothers of young children, has been the stuff of news stories over the past year. Now, it’s been suggested much of the interest may have been driven by the brand’s savvy use of bloggers to promote its message.

Bodo Lang, a lecturer in marketing at the University of Auckland, said it was increasingly common for blogs to be used to influence key retail markets.

Bloggers and social media personalities were seen as strong drivers of consumers’ purchasing decisions.

‘‘It’s one of those tricky things,’’ he said.

‘‘The marketplace is very opaque. You don’t know who is being rewarded or incentivised to say what. People who want to write good news get rewarded. There’s a huge move afoot to influence consumers in ways that we don’t perceive are there, it’s troubling.’’

He said brands such as Nike and adidas would also use sporting blogs and YouTube channels. He had heard of one blogger paid $200,000 to promote a product

Kmart recently flew a group of bloggers to Sydney and sends products out to them for review. It uses bloggers on both sides of the Tasman to spread its message. It does not pay them for posts.

‘‘At Kmart we host various product events throughout the year and invite Kmart fan pages, bloggers and media as an opportunity to meet the Kmart team while viewing and reviewing new product, we have a lot of fun together as we share the same love of the product,’’ a spokesperson said.

New Zealand blogger Maria Foy, of Happy Mum Happy Child, said she worked with retail brands.

‘‘Some I say yes to, whilst some I say no. The overall products the brand sells has to fit in with my audience. And to be honest I have to like them too. I try and only promote brands or products that I use or would use. That means everything I say is genuine,’’ she said.

‘‘Kmart is definitely one of these brands but I have never been paid to do any work for them. Every now and then, myself and other bloggers will be sent products if there’s a new range about to be launched.

‘‘Ultimately it’s up to us whether or not we speak about these. I always do because Kmart is loved by myself and my audience.’’

She said she told her readers if she had been given something or paid for a post.

‘‘I make it really clear in anything I’m saying or writing. With regards to other bloggers, I do know that not everyone discloses.

‘‘I always get disappointed in this because I think it’s important to have an honest relationship with your audience.’’

Sarah Campbell, general manager at Bloggers Club, said bloggers can spend years building up trusting relationships with followers.

‘‘This makes that relationship a gold mine for advertisers.’’

Hilary Souter, Advertising Standards Authority chief executive, said it was common for media outlets of all kinds to disclose hosting or flight arrangements when running travel stories.

To count as advertising, and to have to be disclosed as such, the content had to be controlled directly or indirectly by the advertiser, she said.

‘‘It’s not a huge area of complaint for us but we are working on some guidance at the moment.’’