Mary Kay Cosmetics was founded on our belief in the Golden Rule. We strive to provide opportunities for women to achieve their maximum potential. And we tell all our consultants and directors that God and their families come before our company – and that whenever they experience a conflict, the company should be put in third place. (Mary Kay: You Can Have It All 1997 Calendar)

Unfortunately, Mary Kay consultants, directors, and corporate employees do not believe in the golden rule. Rather, they believe in (and use, teach, and promote) dishonesty on a regular basis. It begins with the recruiting talk, in which you will be provided select information. You will be told lies of omission, you will hear false earnings claims, and you will be told many other lies to convince you to sign up.

The lies continue with the inventory talk. New consultants will be told they “need” inventory because you “can’t sell from an empty wagon.” They will be given false figures for the sales they can expect, and they will be given false statistics like “women purchase an average of $___ more when the consultant has inventory on hand.”

Continuous lies are the Mary Kay way, which certainly is not in line with the Golden Rule. The lies you hear are related to your upline’s desire for you to order more (even when they know you won’t be able to sell it), recruit more (even when they know you are uncomfortable with the tactics used to recruit and you feel bad for luring women into an opportunity in which you are losing money while you tell the recruits they will make money), and try to move up the career ladder (even when they know you are almost guaranteed to fail and lose more and more money as you try to move up).

This is what makes Mary Kay so insidious and makes it a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The company has established itself as one that helps and empowers women. They use quotes and phrases that are uplifting and motivating. It sounds like they are doing the best for women. At the same time, they are out deceiving women about their chances of making money, lying to get them to sign up as consultants, and coercing them to buy inventory they’ll almost surely never sell. That is pure evil.