Pink Truth Has No Credibility
Pink Truth would have a lot more credibility if you weren’t so dramatic all the time. You want to be taken seriously? You want people to stay away from MK? Just say why and back it up with facts. Real ones. Names, dates, numbers.
Honestly, I don’t see much of that here. Most of the time it feels like MK-style cheerleading in reverse. Like the same over-the-top energy, but now it’s being used to bash the company. I keep waiting to see something solid (actual documentation) but it’s always anonymous people telling the same kind of stories. I didn’t read the papers and so I’m a victim! What’s with that?
If you want to make a stronger argument, post some actual proof. Where are the 1099s? The Schedule C’s? You can blur out your personal info if you’re worried about privacy. But give people something real to look at, not just vague posts about how “I lost money” or “my director was evil.” You say you were lied to, okay. But show us the numbers. Tax returns don’t lie and if you’ve been saving them like we’re all supposed to, they should be easy to find.
And just so you know, I’m not here defending Mary Kay. I’ve got a relative who’s a recruiter and she drives me nuts. She’s always pitching people, even waiters and random shoppers. Calls herself a “top earner,” talks about her income like she’s famous. I’m not buying it. She gives me product at a discount (probably to meet her quota), and I only say yes now and then to shut her up. Overpriced stuff, and I still like Oil of Olay better. (It’s pink too, go figure.)
Anyway, if you really want to help people avoid the same trap, give them what you wish you had: info. Not just complaints. Actual facts. Make your case with receipts, not just regret.
Just saying.
Visit the
PTC, you can’t prove a negative. This is why we ask purveyors of MLMs like Mary Kay to produce a Sched C to bolster their earnings claims. We can’t prove they exaggerated their income claims. We can only share the statistical likelyhood of their claims based on income disclosures from MK corporate, as well as research for the FTC on the MLM industry, both of which show only a tiny fraction are making even a penny more than they are spending.
Many of the contributors here did make money with Mary Kay. Sharing their financials is not the point being made. Yes, it is possible to make money in MLM. The problem is it is very unlikely, and requires the exploitation of one’s own downline. The contributors here openly admit to participating in this manipulation…and once fully aware of this reality, had a change of heart about continued participation.
As for receipts, when it comes to the dark side of Mary Kay, please read more on this site. Contributors here regularly share the very real social media posts of xSDs showing their unethical, manipulative behavior, in their own words!
Oh for heaven’s sake. It’s the authors of the articles and comments that are stating the facts, presenting the data, crunching the numbers. How often have folks here asked for the “successful” IBCs to present their tax documents, offering to redact the sensitive info, in order to prove that they’re the exception to the rule? And yet, not one has taken the chance to prove everyone here wrong.
Anyway, the financial losses are only a part of the whole problem with MLM, which is that the participants were promised easy executive money for part time work with products that sell themselves. So they invest time and money into it and find out that the money was a lie, the MLM takes over your life, and nobody wants the stuff. They were lied to and manipulated. Losing money sucks, full stop. Finding out that you were lied to and used just to keep someone else’s MLM career afloat hurts.
You can’t quantify emotional pain. You can’t balance up hurt feelings on a spreadsheet. There’s no form 1040 for lost friendships or troubled marriages.
Believe the stories, or don’t – but you don’t get to dictate how people choose to share their own stories.