Mary Kay: Not a Christian Company and No Direct Line to Jesus
Written by Havurah
I have always maintained that no one can save anyone from themselves if they do not want to be saved. Mary Kay Ash, the person, was not a so-called Christian in the way it is bandied about here and the company she founded was not a Christian company.
It was a cosmetics and skincare manufacturing business built on a specific marketing plan and her ultimate success was when MARY KAY CORP. went public and hit the bigtime about 30 years ago… give or take.
Then she got old and her son took it over. He leveraged the company into massive debt to take it private and morphed it into some sort of religious answer to the mystery of life using makeup as the means to salvation. Of course, this salvation also included the earthly rewards of valuable gifts and prizes and the chance at a lifestyle enjoyed by those other rich folks who did not use religion to attain that good life.
That being said, MARY KAY CORP. is actually a series of corporate entities tied to one another and dependent upon its Directors as a physical and contractual buffer against the new recruits and other signers on, including end retail customers…if there are any.
MARY KAY INC., is simply a factory. If the MARY KAY CORP., MLM disappeared tomorrow the factory would still be churning out other label products for other clients.
So, our objection is strictly to the marketing plan of the signature product. Simply speaking, if the MKC marketing method was really such a success, why is there any other business method at all? How do bricks and mortar retailers succeed? Why would anyone work in any other way if the Christian way of MKC and its army pink ladies is the way to a six figure income and a life of Christian wealth?
Is there a secret that no one else except the chosen few know? If Jesus is the path to all of our salvation, why is he co-opted by this one company? Can’t all companies have Jesus save us and lead us to the enriching of all lives?
What is the secret that churns through 40,000 recruits a month ? It can’t be much of a secret if that many people are churning through… or as Mary Kay, herself, described it… running the bath water with the drain open… recruits in, drained IBC’s out.
The marketing plan on its face is fraudulent. Combine an oversaturation of sales force with an expensive, yet middle of the road, product while restricting the selling area and method, and no legitimate and lucrative business can happen. The sales force are the end buyers and if no product ever makes it way to an end user/customer/client, the corporation doesn’t care. It sold its wares and it is through. What becomes of the stuff is anybody’s guess…least of all, MKC.
No, I am not Noam Chomsky. If anyone, I am Ayn Rand… lol. I understand this game and I understand Tracy Coenen’s need and ambition to educate the depleted and the vulnerable and gullible. I don’t know what the answer is because there is a sucker made every minute and precious few MKC Directors are trying to make a living out of finding those suckers.
Women who need income have to work at a real job. That is a holy truth. Some women marry their incomes, most earn it honestly. In the end there is no honest income without honest work. Work is whatever derives the income, but does not require recruiting and investment into a tenuous scheme.
Wall Street acknowledges that its products are risky and investment is a speculation. But that kind of financial speculation does not involve bringing ones friends, families and acquaintances into the group to further the groups ambitions. MKC is a speculation of the most evil sort. It promises to save women as it empties their wallets and punishes them for the built in failure. MARY KAY DOES SUCK.
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Tags: christian company, christian values, faith first, mary kay sucks
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Comments (7)
Pinkiu
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Anytime a person or a company intimidates, bullies, and manipulates with scripture and spiritual concepts, that person or company should be looked at through a very close lens. These women are not trained pastors or apologists or graduates in biblical studies. I happen to be all three and a former IBC. The spiritual abuse running rampant in MK is astounding. I would never, ever attend a church that manipulated the congregation through prizes and guilt. Only the Holy Spirit convicts, not the sales director. If you feel guilt because of not selling enough or recruiting enough, it’s NOT because God you’ve done something to offend God. It isn’t because you don’t have enough faith. God does NOT bless MK itself, he blesses people regardless of their affiliation in MK. The only reason people get up the career ladder in MK is not because God is blessing them, it’s because they’ve learned really well how to snooker people into purchasing product upfront (we call it frontloading. God is not in that.
If you are visiting this site because there is a little queasiness in your gut about MK and you can’t put your finger on it, this idolizing of all things Mary Kay Ash might be part of it. The manipulation you feel might be a part of it. The having a boatload of product sitting on your shelf that you can’t sell is a big part of it. The good news is that this site will give you all the tools and information you need to send product back, how to ignore your SD and recruiter, and how to regain your life back.
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Trigger
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OMC! Havurah, I haven’t seen you on here for a while.
We used to chat occastionally, years ago. Do you remember?
Anyway, excellent article, well written.
I am at peace with no longer selling for an mlm. I love having empty moments (not that I couldn’t fill every one with housework or cooking) to play a game of Solitaire (with real cards). Or, I can play 3 games, whatever I choose. I have choices. (and yes, I work full-time)
No longer am I making dinner at a frantic pace and resenting the time it takes from my mlm of the moment. Such bliss.
I can stare for long moments at the Christmas tree and not feel guilty thinking of the calls I could gave gotten made during that time.
I love curling up on the couch every night after a long day at work and enjoying reruns of the Waltons.
For the first time in my 53 years (oops, I told my age – a no-no im MK la-la land) I have planned a shopping day with my sister. We’ve never Christmas shopped together. Would never have even considered it while chasing am mlm.
A few days ago at a grocery store, a lady stopped me and said she just loved my ******* (mlm item). I just said ‘thank you’ and walkded on. How lovely not to have to begin my cheesy spiel and give her my card/ph. #/web site, etc. I didn’t have to come up with some reason to get her number. I just went home and put my groceries away. It was great.
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havurah
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I am always here. There just isn’t much for me to say anymore because so many other eloquent women have taken up that mantle and I have been out of MK for at least 15 years. I wasn’t in for that long.
There is just the most luscious makeup and beautiful skin care available from anywhere in the world that the Mary Kay product just seems so proletarian in comparison. MK’s scheme in the USA is on its last legs, it seems to me, and the product will go into other countries where the local population will be defrauded. Thankfully, the foreign IBC’s can find us on the Internets….lol
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Christy E. Bell
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” Some women marry their incomes, most earn it honestly. ” Do you really mean to call all married, stay-at-home moms dishonest?
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havurah
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That was not properly phrased and I’m sorry you misunderstood. I married my income and I earned it honestly. I home schooled my daughter, the ultimate Jewish princess, and she is now a working actress and college student.
Mary Kay products were not for Jewish princesses…hey are simply not expensive enough.
What I meant to say was that there are many honest paths to the lifestyle that Mary Kay promises and none of it involves recruiting women with low self esteem into ,ulti level marketing schemes…no matter what the motivation.
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havurah
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I can’t type can I?
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Erica
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I caught your meaning, Haruvah. Page through a few NSD I-stories and one quickly sees that more than a few of them had significant financial help for their Mary Kay businesses; help that would not typically be available to the average IBC or director.
Gloria Mayfield-Banks’ husband has owned his own very successful construction business since the 80s. Gloria likes to flounce around in her gaudy gowns and proclaim how wonderful Mary Kay is but I’ve yet to see her give credit to her husband for HIS hard work.
NSD Dacia Wiegandt tells of her parents spending 60k on her education, her private school, and how she planned a wedding for 300 people in her I-story when she was sitting lower on the MK food chain. It’s quite possible she was getting some financial assistance but she’s quick to praise Mary Kay while teaching the IBCs under her how to lie.
In the Mary Kay publication “Room at the Top,” there are still more examples where NSDs had husbands who were business owners, retired military officers, and even oil barons yet failed to give them any credit for their significant financial contributions. All praise went to Mary Kay (insert 6+ last names here) Ash.
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