Mary Kay’s Husband Unawareness Plan
Get involved with Mary Kay. Spend lots of money. And make sure your husband never knows about it. That’s the Husband Unawareness Plan.
This is one of the more sinister aspects of Mary Kay Cosmetics. Of course, this is an unofficial thing. Mary Kay Inc. will say they know nothing of it, and certainly don’t condone it. But the corporation profits from it.
Learn more in this clip from an old HuffPost live appearance:
I heard that Mary Kay has a new slogan.
“Mary Kay, A Company Empowering Women To Spend Money.”
This is part and parcel of the Mary Kay culture. Directors hide the reality of Mary Kay from recruits, so why not ask the recruits to hide MK reality from their own families and friends?
If Mary Kay recruiters were honest about the Mary Kay system, few would join. Similarly, if Mary Kay encouraged honest partnership with the spouse of the recruit, few would sign up and even fewer would stay in once losses started to mount.
Bottom line: Mary Kay is in the business of selling overpriced beauty products to their own sales force, in quantities far too great for the sales teams to consume personally and/or retail to others. But MK spin portrays this as a dream opportunity for anyone, while the mathematics and the MK track record make it clear that 99% must lose money, no matter how hard they try.
Honesty and MLM profitability are entirely incompatible.
I HATE HATE HATE the Husband Unawareness Plan. This is also a great example of training people from your first interaction with them. I was trained to offer this as a “tongue in cheek” close for big packages. “I can take cash, check, credit card, or the Husband Unawareness Plan. That’s where you put a little on each and he never knows exactly how much you spent. *wink wink* Don’t worry, he won’t complain about a more beautiful, more confident wife!” Once you have a customer sold on this “Plan,” convincing her to use it as a consultant is a breeze!
This is one of the manipulation tactics that I’ve had the hardest time forgiving myself for after escaping the fog.