International Law

Final Farewell to Mary Kay

Image by .sanden. via Flickr

Interesting retrospect from JTA, writing at Pink Truth about a ex-distributor complaining about Mary Kay's representations about how much she would earn;

"It took me months and months and months to take the position that the Mary Kay business is fatally flawed.

And most of all, regardless of what you now think of me personally, the main reasons I have taken this position is that most of you barely make production, many of you BUY your production, and ALL of you make very little income.

That is an indisputable, numerical fact that has nothing to do with me, my thoughts and beliefs, or my actions."

In every sale of a franchise, biz op, or other sales dealership, the purchaser claims that they want to know how much money they will make - after they leave.

It is not true that prior to the purchase, the purchasers are overly concerned about checking out the earnings claims.

Why?

Because the purchaser generally doesn't want to prick his or her bubble about the economic reality.

The purchaser is buying a phantom dream - a promise of something so wonderful, so complete, so life alerting that the purchaser will not want to look at the offer from a realistic point of view.

For example, if you could sell Mary Kay products, then shouldn't there be something in your history as a sales person for beauty products?

Shouldn't you have worked in retail - grinding it out at the Elizabeth Arden desk?

The sales women in a large retail store working at the cosmetic desks are generally not employed by the retailer - they are real independent contractors.

Now, if you cannot make money selling as an independent contractor in a retail environment, with huge traffic, how the heck do you think you are going to make it as MK distributor?

Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on August 28, 2008 (boomark / email).