Pink Truth

You Are Mean Girls

By TRACY Posted on 47 Comments on You Are Mean Girls

Why are you all haters? Seems to me like you all are the mean girls looking to tear something down. I would much rather support a brand that gives back to women and cares about the environment. Not every product every company makes is the best…trust me I’ve paid a lot more for other brands than Mary Kay and hated the product.

How do you feel about this concept that Mary Kay gives back to women??? Does donating to a cause like domestic violence negate all the financial and emotional abuse that MK promotes and encourages?

47 COMMENTS

  1. “How do you feel about this concept that Mary Kay gives back to women??? Does donating to a cause like domestic violence negate all the financial and emotional abuse that MK promotes and encourages?”

    Hell, Ted Bundy volunteered at a suic!de prevention hotline and was allegedly very good at helping the callers. I’m sure that was very comforting to his dozens of victims.

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  2. Why are you all haters?

    Let’s start of with a nice piece of negging. No, we are not “haters”. Some of us were burned by being in Mk and telling their stories isn’t hating. Others of us were indirectly affected by MK so telling our stories doesn’t make us “haters” either.

    Seems to me like you all are the mean girls looking to tear something down. I would much rather support a brand that gives back to women and cares about the environment.

    We have seen the paltry amount that Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Louis Miller Hallenbeck Ash’s company pays out to these causes compared to their overall profits. It’s certainly the widow’s mite.

    Not every product every company makes is the best…trust me I’ve paid a lot more for other brands than Mary Kay and hated the product.

    This is not the ringing endorsement that is going to change my mind.

    How do you feel about this concept that Mary Kay gives back to women??? Does donating to a cause like domestic violence negate all the financial and emotional abuse that MK promotes and encourages?

    IIRC, the amount of money donated by Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Louis Miller Hallenbeck Ash’s company to it’s own charitable foundation is a couple of million each year, less than 0.01% of the reported $4 billion they make annually. Not a large amount of their profits.

    Does it help some women? Probably in the short term. I’m not sure what the terms are to be able to receive financial help from MK’s charity are but I doubt that they are easily accessible.

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  3. In 2021 MK donated $1.2 million to Cancer research and $3 million to domestic abuse shelters but the good news is

    TaDa!!!

    97% of proceed from your generous donation supports The Mary Kay Foundation’s mission to create a world where women are healthy, safe , and empowered.

    Sounds to me like it’s less of Mary Kay Wagner Rogers Eckman Weaver Louis Miller Hallenbeck Ash’s profits and more of the generosity of their own workers being used to promote the charity.

    https://mkhope.webflow.io/

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    • Looks like I mis-read that, blame a lack of coffee. It seems MKF’s overheads are only 3% leaving 97% of raised funds to be distributed to their causes.

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  4. Charity Navigator gives it 97% but

    impact and results

    The Mary Kay Foundation cannot currently be evaluated by our Impact & Results methodology because either (A) it is eligible, but we have not yet received data; (B) we have not yet developed an algorithm to estimate its programmatic impact; (C) its programs are not direct services; or (D) it is not heavily reliant on contributions from individual donors.

    Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.

    Accountability and finance

    The Mary Kay Foundation has earned a 97% for the Accountability & Finance beacon. See the metrics below for more information.

    This beacon provides an assessment of a charity’s financial health (financial efficiency, sustainability, and trustworthiness) and its commitment to governance practices and policies.

    This Accountability & Finance score represents IRS Form 990 data up until FY 2019, which is the most recent Form 990 currently available to us.

    Culture and community

    The Mary Kay Foundation cannot currently be evaluated by our Culture & Community methodology because we have not received data from the charity regarding its Constituent Feedback or Equity Practices strategies.

    Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.

    Leadership and Adaptability

    The Mary Kay Foundation cannot currently be evaluated by our Leadership & Adaptability methodology because we have not received data from the charity regarding its leadership capacity, strategic thinking and planning, and ability to innovate or respond to changes.

    Note: The absence of a score does not indicate a positive or negative assessment, it only indicates that we have not yet evaluated the organization.

    Sounds like they are not very open about their practices.

    https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/752653742

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  5. I have been in two abusive relationships in my life. One lead to the other.

    When I was 23, I fell hook line and sinker for a glamorous woman who promised me I could be my own boss, define success my own way, and be in control of my life. I was consistently (usually indirectly) told I was not good enough; that because I was in total control of my destiny, my failure was all my fault; I was isolated from reality and lied to about almost every facet of this “business opportunity.” When I finally escaped 14 years later, I found myself in nearly $40,000 of debt, with my self-confidence shattered, career in a shambles, questioning my own ability to make good decisions, and unable to trust myself. When I left this abusive relationship, the only support network was RIGHT HERE! There are no shelters for MLM survivors, unless they are online networks. No assistance to get the therapy you need to right your course. No career help to get back on track.

    The second abusive relationship started when I was 25, when my self-confidence was already taking a hit from the first abusive relationship, and when I was already prone to believe the things he said about my worth as a person. It ended very quickly. Because it was obvious what it was. When I escaped from him, I could have accessed assistance through a number of local non-profits designed to help abuse survivors–because that one left marks. I could have sought help on safe housing, financial assistance, career guidance, therapy, and more.

    I’m not saying one was worse than the other. But tell me how an abusive company supporting survivors of a different kind of abuse negates the harm they cause in the first place. Especially when that company’s propaganda machine is so effective that only in the past several years has society STARTED to recognize it for what it is–ABUSIVE!

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  6. You know, the more I think about this, the more it rankles. It goes right back to “Oh, Joe couldn’t have felt you up at the party. He’s a good Christian man. You must have led him on.” “Oh, Mary couldn’t have stolen your purse. She goes to church every Sunday. Besides, you shouldn’t have left it in your car.” “Oh, my son would never have defrauded your mother. He spends all his free time doing charity work. She obviously didn’t read the contract.”

    “Oh, MK discloses everything right up front. Besides, and they sponsor a charitable foundation. You obviously failed because you didn’t work your business the right way.”

    No, the small amount of good one does (whether one is a single person or a big company) doesn’t mitigate the greater harm to one’s victims. It’s already hard enough for crime victims to be taken seriously because of the victim-blaming mentality that’s way too prevalent in our society. This is just more of the same, writ large and pink.

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  7. “I would much rather support a brand that gives back to women and cares about the environment.”

    It would be instructive to know what percentage of product produced by Mary Kay ends up in the landfill…especially unopened product. If the product was actually used up, at least some of the packaging could be recycled. But unused product? Landfill. Even donated product that does not get used up? Landfill.

    Be careful promoting a company for being environmentally conscious when said company’s own incentives don’t even encourage actual sale and use of the product. MK’s incentives strongly encourage over-ordering, setting up the conditions for product expiring on consultants shelves, then ending up in the landfill unopened.

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    • I wonder about this every time someone mentions “green initiatives” in regards to MK. I mean, a jar of moisturizer has the jar, the lid, the safety seal, the carton, the plastic shrink wrap around the carton. If the product isn’t sold or used, the energy and resouces needed to make its components were all just wasted, and it was a waste of time and money to even make it. But they have to have all that waste of resources in order to justify the whole “we’re not a pyramid scheme! We sell makeup!” thing. Multiply that by thousands and multiply that by however many pyramidlings actually make up MK, and dang.

      Not to mention every time they change their product line. All those compacts that aren’t recyclable, all those pans of eyeshadow and blush that won’t fit the new compacts and no one wants to buy them because they’re obsolete – landfill.

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  8. “Why are you all haters?”—

    I’ll admit, I’m a hater. I hate scams, especially MLM scams that turn the victim into the abuser. I also hate cults that brainwash their members into thinking they are superior and/or privileged over fellow humans because of mythical beliefs. Mary Kay falls into both categories, so I really hate Mary Kay. I hate abusers of women, children, and animals; and I hate murderers. I hate the smell of patchouli. You get the point.

    “Seems to me like you all are the mean girls looking to tear something down.”—

    Yep, that too. I would like to see the MLM system made illegal. If you can endless-chain recruit, like in Mary Kay, that company should be “torn down”. I’m angry the MK MLM scam is allowed to operate in broad daylight……taking advantage of people like you. If that appears mean, I can’t help it.

    “I would much rather support a brand that gives back to women and cares about the environment.”—

    They take, take, take from women. Duh. How else do you think they became a billion dollar company and debt free? Their sales and marketing strategy is to tell women they’re business owners when they’re actually their customers. Sneaky and deceitful, but clever. And, I’d make a bet the majority of MK products end up in a landfill, unused and wasted, in plastic. Inventory loading for a silly prize will cost the environment, not help it.

    “Not every product every company makes is the best…trust me I’ve paid a lot more for other brands than Mary Kay and hated the product.”—

    So, you’re a “hater” like me.

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      • Dag nabbit, I created the trademark and I still screwed it up! Ridiculous Downvote ™!!!

        (Sorry Kaybots, I borrowed a few exclamation marks from you)

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  9. I worked for a non-profit that received a $20K grant from MK to help us rebuild our emergency shelter after a fire. I will never blast someone for giving charitably because those non-profits need all the help they can get.

    But no, it doesn’t outweigh the bad they do. Barely offsets a tiny piece. And the company gets all the credit. All those consultants out there going into debt to buy unneeded inventory are the ones funding those grants and they don’t even get a thank you from the foundation.

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    • I volunteer at a women’s shelter/program. The women are rescued from horrific situations, but not specifically from “domestic violence.” We applied twice for a MK grant and were turned down both times.

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  11. Whataboutism is a poor debate tactic, whether in the form of “we’re not bad because other people do bad stuff, too” or in the form of “we’re not bad because we do a few good deeds.” This diatribe has a bit of both:

    Not every product every company makes is the best…

    …and…

    I would much rather support a brand that gives back to women and cares about the environment.

    Al Capone opened a soup kitchen during the Great Depression; that didn’t make him a sweet and cuddly guy. Heck, he paid for the kitchen by extorting businesses to contribute to it; it didn’t cost him a dime.

    Finally, if Mary Kay really cared about the environment, they’d take steps to make sure their products were sold and used instead of collected by the sales force, only to clog landfills layer. And they wouldn’t obsolete their products on a regular basis, making tons of unsold stock even more unsellable.

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    • “Al Capone opened a soup kitchen during the Great Depression; that didn’t make him a sweet and cuddly guy. Heck, he paid for the kitchen by extorting businesses to contribute to it; it didn’t cost him a dime.”

      This, I think, is the key to the charitable donations debate. Never, not even in the depths of the pink fog, do I remember MK once claiming that the company donated all this money to charity. They did fundraising drives at every company sponsored event, creating a competition among the different divisions to see which group of consultants could raise the most. They donated a dollar from the sale of each special edition lipstick/gloss in the fall. They encouraged directors to host 5Ks and the like. But they NEVER claimed that corporate funded any of this. (And, well, corporate can’t fund anything at all except on the backs of consultant purchases, which we prove at least weekly around here.)

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  12. Same vague accusations, different Friday.

    *sigh*

    We’re still waiting for a Friday PT critic post from an actual sales director who provides clear and verifiable proof that we haters are wrong about our accusations that they mostly make non-executive income, and often barely minimum wage; that their unit members really are selling all of their products at fifty percent, thus justifying their “unit retail sales” claims; and that if she claims to have “retired” her husband, or that her MK income covers all of their household and family costs (including health insurance, etc), she can prove it.

    We’ve been waiting now for…sixteen years? Maybe more? And not once has any director done so. That silence speaks more loudly than anything we get from people like today’s “critic”.

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    • The problem is, all the successful, executive wage earning, part-time, entire inventory selling, 50% profit-making huns with retired husbands live on a unicorn ranch on Atlantis, and internet access from there is just horrible.

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    • “…sixteen years? Maybe more?”

      Sixteen going on seventeen, if memory serves. July 4, 2006 was the debut of “Mary Kay Sucks,” since renamed Pink Truth.

      All that time for just one Director submit a Schedule C and rub all our noses in it, and no takers. Hmmmm…

      P.S.: …mmmmmmmm…

      9

  13. The utter hypocrisy of NSD Jamie Taylor posting her aspirational post of unboxing a Chanel Beauty Product. Regardless of that only being a mirror, it shows the truth that no one will ever covet or desire any Mary Kay product in the way that some one does Mary Kay.

    Girl bye, I will go get my free birthday gift at Sephora with my Dior Forever Foundation.

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    • *correction to someone aspires or desires to own Chanel. I had some wine when I stumbled on this gem.

      1

    • I love my Dior makeup. Eyeshadows, face palettes, and the Dior Glow lip balms…they’re so good! Love using the VIB discounts to buy them too! I couldn’t imagine spending money on MK over Dior (and so many other great brands). Even with Chelsea’s amazing daily BOGOs!

      6

      • Agreed! Too many awesome brands to waste a cent on Mary Kay. Dior, Charlotte Tilbury, Fenty, and Natasha Denona get all my money!

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    • Plus, Unboxing a mirror? It’s hard to get super excited about a mirror, no matter what brand.

      But, yes, these are professional, serious business women. Good grief.

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      • “Look at meeee! I am a wealthy successful NSD (or nashy-Nash to my girlz) who can afford a Chanel mirror with my NSD money! You can be like me too!!!”

        (Meanwhile, Jamie’s national “area” looks a whole lot more like a “unit” on paper when you see how weak her downline is…)

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  16. So many of these “Mary Kay boss-babes” are young, pretty, and educated. It’s sad to see how easily they are deceived… and how willing they are to deceive others.

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  17. Guys, this comment is totally irrelevant to this post, but I want to share my new found joy with everyone: while we all see tons of ads on our frequently visited websites, I doubt that we often click on such ads. At least that’s the case for me.

    But today, while here, an ad popped up for some type of kitchen item that I’d never seen before (and never knew how much I needed it until I clicked the link). This sent me on a two hour Amazon scramble to find it and get it in my cart fast.

    I present to you the “kitchen wall-mounted tray” (I think…that’s how it is described). Basically it’s a wall-mounted shelf system with several cafeteria- style trays that slide out and upon which you can place your various ingredients for a dish you’re creating. Like, one tray for your prepped meat, another for some veggies, another for the aromatics involved, and you can have them layered on these trays based on varied cooking times, etc. basically mini cafeteria trays in a wall mounted shelf that help you organize your ingredients prior to commencing the cooking of the meal.

    Lol, my description makes it sound fancy and complicated; it’s not. It’s a few plastic trays that fit on a basic plastic shelf. But I LOVE IT AND HAVE ORDERED IT.

    Tracy, I don’t know what you earn per click on the ads here (and I know that it’s not the gazillion dollars that the haterzzz proclaim…ie you’re lying about Mary Kay and are getting piles of money from the ads), but if this item turns out to be as awesome as I think it will, I’ll happily click on more ads in the future!

    Thanks guys for allowing this ridiculous comment. Here’s the item:

    https://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Mounted-Vegetable-Multi-Layer-Stacked/dp/B0BC1471X2/ref=sr_1_51?crid=32N2E4A01PE8F&keywords=Wall%2Bmounted%2Bmulti%2Btray%2Bkitchen%2Bprep&qid=1677428160&sprefix=wall%2Bmounted%2Bmulti%2Btray%2Bkitchen%2Bprep%2Caps%2C98&sr=8-51&th=1

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      • Wait, I should see if Pampered Chef has it first, so I can support a “local business” instead of some huge corporation lol!

    • Cute and handy, and way more practical than those thousands of tiny glass bowls that TV chefs use (some poor soul has to wash those for you, hello!)

      It’d be great when you’re having a party because you could just make up your cheese/ cold cut/ fruit trays ahead of time and have them all stacked up and ready in the fridge, plus you could marinate and carry meat out to the grill in one.

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