National sales director Lisa Madson says you CAN’T FAIL at Mary Kay. Apparently, all you have to do is attend seminar and you are guaranteed success. Sounds like false advertising to me!
Here’s what Lisa had on her website about seminar:
This is the story of a former Mary Kay consultant who was involved in the anti-Mary Kay community since early 2005.
One day, I was at a gathering of friends (mostly from work), when one of the women (who had been laid off a couple months earlier) came in with a treasure trove of Mary Kay make-up samples. After dinner, the lipstick samples were spread over the table, and we were having a wonderful time looking through them — trying some on, and tucking others away to take home with us. She offered us a chance to try this wonderful new product. It was an exfoliating “lip mask”. You can exfoliate your lips!? I’d never heard of such thing, but wasn’t it perfect? I had chapped lips all the time.
Glitter galore on this chocolate brown creation.
After Pink Truth got in the way of Mary Kay’s planned July announcement of major product line changes by announcing it for them in January 2007, Mary Kay offered this information to sales directors who were shocked at the information.
Mary Kay Cosmetics has spoken with this message to the sales directors on January 19, 2007. This comes from the new FAQ section of MaryKayInTouch. Notice that they basically admit that the changes Pink Truth announced are truly happening. (Who said we were an unreliable source????) So ladies…. Stop ordering color cosmetics right now, unless you’ve actually sold them!
We’ve been hearing for ages how Mary Kay is the “Best Selling Brand” of this that and the other. I think many of us are wise to how Mary Kay can make such claims: Hire a marketing company to go out and conduct “market research” on your products, mix the numbers up the best way you can, and voila! You are number one!
The average consumer, however, is still free to do her own research on Mary Kay Cosmetics. Every time I’ve done this, I’ve found that Mary Kay is not and never was the best selling brand.
In 2005, a jury found that Mary Kay Inc. infringed on the patent rights of TriStrata Technology Inc. (a subsidiary of Neostrata) in regards to their alpha-hydroyacid (AHA) technology. TriStrata was awarded over $26 million, and Mary Kay appealed. The appeal was upheld by a Federal judge last week. Now that interest is tacked on, Mary Kay owes $41 million.
Several patents for wrinkle creams were at issue in the case. TriStrata holds more than 125 patents related to alpha hydroxy acids and other skin care technologies. It licenses its patents to 40 companies in the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries, including Avon, L’Oreal, Elizabeth Arden Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Chanel. Mary Kay was one of several companies sued for infringing on these patents.
Written by Whiz
Many here on Pink Truth have commented at the seemingly exorbitant cost of earning a Mary Kay Career Car. Considering the full co-op payments (or full cash compensation in lieu of using a career car) range from $375 to $900 per month, many have posed the question, “How much would the monthly payment be if someone walked into a dealership and leased the same car?”
Every year at Mary Kay’s annual seminar in Dallas, TX, debuting sales directors get a chance to be on stage together. We’ve compared 2006 and 2007 directors on stage at seminar, and notice a significant drop in 2007 in each of the 5 seminar divisions.
Mary Kay Inc. attempts to cover itself on the issue of earnings… often inflated during recruiting pitches and guest events.
One of my many complaints with this product-based pyramid scheme is the pervasiveness of false earnings claims. Mary Kay sales directors parade around “high checks” and imply that those are normal checks. They brag about executive incomes, but fail to mention that the majority of sales directors are making $20,000 a year or less. They conveniently forget to mention business expenses when talking about commission checks and 1099s.
On January 16, 2007, Pink Truth announced that Mary Kay was changing its entire color cosmetic line, to include lipsticks, compacts, eyeshadows, blushes, and eyeliners. Mary Kay Inc. intended to make the announcement in July 2007, and in fact the “official” announcement was made at seminar. Here’s what we told our loyal readers: