Do you remember that scene in Wayne’s World when Mike Myers pulls out a Coke and says “product placement?” At the time it was funny because it was 1992 and seemed so gauche and obvious. But advertising is tricky, because it’s not always that blatant. Advertising only works when you’re not aware of it, precisely because you’re not aware of it. If you think advertising doesn’t affect you because you are able to “tune it out,” you are wrong. Product placement isn’t always as clear-cut as it is in Wayne’s World. It isn’t just billboards and commercials on tv, it’s logos, brand names and the blogs you love.
Once you start to look at the world through a critical lens, things that previously seemed innocuous morph into full-blown manifestations of corporate control. It pains me to say this, but the vast majority of fashion blogs have become little more than glorified advertisements for online shops and products like Jeffrey Campbell Lita boots.
If you can imagine the world in 2007, before blogging was a job, some people had little buttons they posted proudly on the sidebar of their blogs. These buttons featured a cute little owl and read “Ad-Free Blog.” Personally, I got pretty attached to that owl and it featured prominently on this blog for years. I barely even noticed when the market started changing and people started getting paid to write certain words and feature links to improve the SEO of other websites. For a long time, I thought that refusing every single offer of payment was the best way to maintain the integrity of my site. I simply wasn’t interested in having a hand in advertising products I didn’t care about.
I first started to ‘advertise’ after receiving lot of sweet e-mails from Etsy sellers or online retailers who loved my blog and wanted me to pick out something to wear from their shop. There was no talk of compensation; writing about them was simply seen as a “thank-you” from me to them for sending me the dress. Then things got a little murkier. These simple exchanges were now referred to as “product reviews” and I started getting more and more offers from companies to hold giveaways for their product. Sure, a giveaway is a nice way to treat your blog readers, but when you really think about it, having to post about some product that I will never get to see or use and have no way of making sure my readers actually received the item reeks of utter dishonesty. I’m not getting a sample of the product for myself to see if it actually works, and only one person gets to win the product while your entire readership has to read a post about a specific product they have that chance to win. . I’m not being selfish here in my desire to not give back to my readers, I just can’t stand the idea of being used as a vessel of advertising, used to raise profit margins I will never have a stake in.
Some bloggers are out there chasing sponsors, treating their blogs like a full-time job. These days, I never solicit advertising, but whenever I get an e-mail and feel like having a little extra cash in my pocket I don’t refuse. Still, this sponsored content seems to stick out like a sore thumb amongst my eclectic sea of babble about 1990s music, kitschy laughs and downright strange outfits.
I am not an entrepreneur, just a regular person with a savant-like obsession with fashion. It distresses me that I have not learned to compete in this market, where the Sartorialist is hiring a Digital Ad Sales Director and I still haven’t come to terms with the fact that some people make an income off their blogs alone. It embitters me that I am stuck working in retail when I know I am a talented and passionate writer (oh, I mean “content producer”), just simply lacking in business sense.
Social media is no longer just a way to express yourself, it is now a tool for companies to promote and connect their brand with consumers. But as social media becomes increasingly the territory of big business, it becomes less and less appealing to the tech-savvy early adopters who helped to pioneer the medium.
A few weeks ago, I read a great blog post written by Danielle of Final Fashion about how being an insider in the fashion industry might be good for your career but is completely toxic to your creativity level. This truly resonated with me, because perhaps the reason why I continue to do new things and experiment with styles after six years blogging and it remains fun is because I’ve never “made it.” I started blogging before Susie Bubble, before Tavi Gevinson, before Bryan Boy and I have never achieved insider status or anything close to it. For example, in October 2011, FLARE Fashion created a slideshow asking 22 Canadian fashion bloggers to wear something from a Canadian designer. Picture after picture featured a blandly “fashionable” aesthetic that appeals to people with too much money, not enough taste and a charge account at Holt Renfrew. While I am being painfully honest here: I’m really self-conscious, sensitive and it hurt to be excluded. But even after the initial sting, I was embittered that none of the creative Canadian fashion blogs that I read and love (Nice and Shiny, Pull Teeth and Calur Villade) were included either. Whoever is creating this content was clearly going for mass appeal over unique perspectives.
But you don’t get anywhere in fashion by being a follower. The people who made the biggest impact in fashion, Isabella Blow, Alexander McQueen, Kate Moss etc. were the people who didn’t quite fit in but kept doing their thing and never let it bother them. I’m still as weird as ever, but unfortunately, I do care. Funnily enough, Danielle was the first fellow blogger that I ever met in person. She was a little older, and inspiring and funny and I told her that I would never “sell out.” Whatever that means, I have stayed true to myself to a fault, and never created anything I felt uncomfortable with. I’m proud to think that I haven’t “sold out” but I feel like simply by presenting myself as a fashion blogger, my irrelevance and inadequacy is highlighted.
Something is off, I can feel it. People no longer blog because they have the desire to share their unique perspectives with the world. Every single fashion blog is starting to look the same. That old quote “you are unique, just like everybody else” is starting to feel uncomfortable accurate. I don’t want to be a fashion blogger if that means (once again) being that loser girl with no friends who just doesn’t fit in compared to the glossy DSLR photos of girls with sleek hair wearing Celine. I still shop at thrift stores, will never be able to afford Celine and that’s totally okay. But I can’t compete with that because it’s just not my arena. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still interested in sharing my writing, my style and ultimately myself with the world but I would like to diversify and step outside of my comfort zone.
I understand that my relationship to blogging is similar to the relationship a musician would have with his or her own music. Each song is something they created, nurtured and worked really hard on; it is a part of them. But over time you change as a person, and that is always reflected in the music you write and the message it conveys. Your fans grow up, lose touch, start listening to something else. Sometimes the music industry as a whole changes and you become irrelevant, that is, unless you start making dubstep. But I hate the idea of clinging onto the music until it becomes progressively crappier and crappier and everyone hates you for not letting go when it was still good. It’s why tv shows that were only around for one season (Freaks and Geeks) are the best, because their message was perfectly preserved, cut short before they even had the chance to go downhill.
It kills me to think that this is “the end” of blogging, and I will not guarantee that this is the last blog entry I ever post. But it is undoubtedly the end of an era, and I thank you all for reading.
I will leave you off with pictures of me and my friends partying it up at the Alternatives Journal 40th Anniversary Party.
