I thought it would be fun to tell you about some of my favorite lies told in Mary Kay. Lies? Lies, you say? But you thought Mary Kay was a “Christian” company!

Wrong! It’s a company that exploits Christianity for monetary gain. By spouting things about Christianity, they get women off their guard. Their defenses are lowered, and they’re more likely to believe the lies they’re told.

So here are a few of my favorites..

• Just one bad apple in the bunch – Sorry, but if you look at Mary Kay recruiters in general, the vast majority of them tell lies to recruit. Many of the lies are lies of omission… They don’t tell the potential recruit how low their sales really are, the true quotas that are required to move up, and the fact that an estimated 99% of women actually lose money with Mary Kay.
• It’s not Mary Kay’s fault! – Mary Kay Inc. frequently falls back on the “independent contractor” argument to show that they’re not responsible for the lies of recruiters and sales directors. The reality is that the company knows all about the untruths and the manipulations, and little to no action is taken. Why? Because Mary Kay Cosmetics directly benefits from the lies. Every time a new recruit believes the lies and is swindled into buying an inventory package, Mary Kay makes money. Why would the company want to stop that?
• Mary Kay is all about helping women – It is possible that in the very beginning, Mary Kay Ash wanted to help women with an opportunity to earn an income. But somewhere along the way, the company got lost. Mary Kay enjoys a very positive public perception, with the general public believing that the company does enrich women’s lives. The truth is that 99% of people lose money in multi-level marketing, and Mary Kay is no different. That’s not helping women. That is preying on their desires and insecurities to make a buck while leaving women poorer than when they started MK.
• Mary Kay products sell themselves – Anyone who has ever done Mary Kay knows what a total lie this is. Of course, there will occasionally be a customer who is hunting for a consultant. That’s rare. One in a while you’ll find an excited hostess who has a bunch of spendy friends at her party. That’s rare too. What we know is that the actual market for Mary Kay products is very small. There is a very tiny pool of women who are legitimate customers buying the products. There are certainly not enough of them to allow many women to turn a profit selling the products.
• Do you have a few hours a week to devote to Mary Kay? – This one is a simple con. Who doesn’t have two or three hours a week that they waste on nonsense and could devote to something productive? Probably all of us. The problem is that Mary Kay doesn’t just require a couple of hours a week. Especially not if you’re interested in making more than $25 a week. The truth is that developing a legitimate customer base takes many hours per week. You have to find prospects, talk them into hosting parties, preparing for the parties, holding the parties, wrapping up loose ends after the parties, and then do it all over again. Then there are all the meetings and “training” events that you’re coerced to attend. Quite simply, there is a lot of time involved in Mary Kay, and anyone who tells you that you can do it in a couple of hours a week is lying.
• Mary Kay is not multi-level marketing – Mary Kay Inc. invented the phrase “dual marketing” to support their claim that the company is not multi-level marketing. Companies avoid the MLM tag at all costs, because they understand the negative associations so many people have with that title. But check out this definition of multi-level marketing, and there is no doubt that MK is indeed MLM. Even a more “neutral” definition of MLM indicates Mary Kay is MLM.
• Any statistic about success in Mary Kay (more women making six figures, more women millionaires, etc.) – Recruiters use these made up statistics to entice women into Mary Kay. None of them are true. Mary Kay is not the “best selling brand.” But for a few select individuals, women in Mary Kay aren’t making anything close to an executive income. Women aren’t “promoting themselves” when they’re ready… they’re just trying to tread water and hope they don’t lose their teams and units. Did you ever wonder why no one presents any proof for these statistics or claims? It’s because the proof doesn’t exist and these claims are completely fabricated, but repeated with vigor by those attempting to recruit you.
• Executive income for part time hours – Just as it’s a lie that you can do Mary Kay in a few hours a week, it’s an even bigger lie that you can make an executive income in Mary Kay with part-time hours. Almost no one makes an executive income in Mary Kay to begin with . And those who do are easily working 50 to 60 hours a week, most of that during what many would call prime “family time”… nights and weekends when the spouse and kids are not at work or school and would love to see mom.
• No one put a gun to your head! – Maybe the biggest fallacy of all in Mary Kay is this statement by the pro-Mary Kay crowd as a defense for any of the wrongs that happen. They contend that women should have said “no” to anything they didn’t want to do. They had free will and should have exercised it. The truth is that Mary Kay trains women on mind games used to exploit needs and weaknesses in women, and they train women to not accept “no” as an answer. No is “a request for more information” in the Mary Kay world and they will stop at nothing to get you to change that no into a yes. So while there may be no physical gun to your head in Mary Kay, the emotional torture that you will be put through is just as scary and effective.

What’s your favorite Mary Kay lie?