The emergence of social media has changed the ways in which marketing is performed, prompting businesses to embrace blogs as part of their marketing strategy. The fashion industry has been particularly quick in realizing the power of blogs, giving rise to fashion blogs that have begun to compete with traditional forms of media. Consequently, fashion blogs have come under fire from journalists that accuse bloggers of biased and overly commercialized reporting.

Businesses, magazine editors as well as research into blog marketing take for granted bloggers’ willingness to participate in blog marketing, while little research has been done to support this presumption. This thesis explores blogger attitudes towards marketing on their personal blogs, focusing on English-language fashion bloggers. The aim of the thesis is to gain insight into fashion blogger awareness of blog marketing in relation to credibility and to assess blogger willingness to participate in said form of marketing.

Data for the thesis were collected in 2012 through an online questionnaire sent to bloggers in the English language fashion blogosphere, providing material for a qualitative, thematic analysis of respondents’ thoughts.

The results show that fashion bloggers hold mostly positive views regarding blog marketing, but their opinions differ in the degree of willingness to engage in marketing practices. This willingness seems to correlate with the degree of blogger professionalization. Fashion bloggers who considered themselves professionals or aimed to become professional bloggers expressed an educated understanding of commercial practices and an awareness of the reasons why companies approach them. The data also revealed a genuine interest on the part of bloggers in fostering relationships with businesses. Fashion bloggers who viewed blogging as a hobby emphasized the personal aspect of blogging and viewed the practice as a creative outlet and a form of social interaction. These bloggers were more apprehensive regarding blog marketing, and emphasized the importance of attribution and personal taste above all else in regard to marketing.

The results of this study do not support the notion that bloggers are fortune seekers willing to agree to any form of blog marketing. Instead, the analysis suggests that bloggers actively reflect on the role of marketing in relation to credibility and will only take part in marketing practices that happen on their own terms.