Dior did not give me a saddle bag

In late July we saw the coveted, Carrie Bradshaw approved, late 90’s bag make a comeback on Instagram. Not that it’s unusual for brands to push the “bag of the season” by gifting it to multiple influencers at a time (i.e: Chloe’s Faye bag, Clohe’s Nile bag, Gucci’s fanny pack), but this time it looks like Dior’s desire to get the asymmetrical handbag on fashion lovers’ radar went a bit too far. Initially reported by diet_prada and later reported on qz.com, it was evident that the French fashion house had arranged an influencer campaign where big profile Instagrammers posted images wearing the Dior saddle bag the same day and at the same time, which is pretty clever from a PR perspective if you think about it. The problem is that many influencers did not disclose they were being part of a paid campaign or that they had received the bag as a gift from Dior, which is against FTC laws. If you use Instagram on a regular basis and follow fashion bloggers or fashion accounts in general, you should know by now that there is gifting of products going on on a regular basis and that, even though Instagram and Facebook now offer the “paid partnership” notice feature, it is not used by everyone.

Even though Instagram started as a reflection of people’s natural likes and personalities, it is now a way to make money for a lot of companies and individuals, so to pretend that anything you see on the platform is not motivated by money or other business goals is silly. I think enhanced transparency in disclosing gifts and paid partnerships is a good thing for the Internet since not everyone understands the mechanics of affiliate marketing and PR campaigns, but users should know better and treat Instagram like any other type of advertising.

Full disclosure

Given this controversy, I feel compelled to disclose that Dior did not give me a saddle bag, however, it is not too late for that, you still have time.