Special Alert:
National Magazine Calls MLM Icon, Mary Kay, a "Pink Pyramid Scheme"; NPR National News Show Discusses Expos�
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~For the first time in many years, a highly respected national magazine has delved into the shady and secret world of multi-level marketing.
The author, Virginia Sole-Smith, is a reporting fellow with the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute. Her article "The Pink Pyramid Scheme: How Mary Kay Cosmetics Preys on Desperate Housewives" appears in the August 2012 issue of Harper's Magazine.
The investigative writer took on the role of a Mary Kay recruit and encountered the devastating realities of the multi-level marketing industry. Her article is a sad and tragic account of women, facing difficult financial challenges, investing and sometimes borrowing thousands of dollars to join Mary Kay's hyped "business opportunity."
Pyramid Scheme Alert Advisor, Tracy Coenen, CPA, publisher of the website, Pink Truth, is quoted in the article. Other PSA Directors and Advisors were consulted by the article's author during her extensive research.
The Mary Kay expos� article can be seen by subscribers at the Harper's website. Harper's is also available on most news stands.
Radio News Show Discusses Mary Kay Scheme
On Monday, July 23 at 11 a.m., eastern time, the NPR national news show, On Point, hosted by Tom Ashcroft, discusses the Mary Kay pyramid article and its findings and perspective. Pyramid Scheme Alert Advisor, attorney Douglas Brooks, will be a guest on the national radio talk show, along with the article's author, Virginia Sole-Smith, and Mary Kay representatives. Douglas Brooks is a nationally recognized expert on pyramid schemes and multi-level marketing. He successfully led class action suits against several multi-level marketing companies such as Nu Skin and Herbalife.
- Check your local NPR affiliate for airing times.
- You can also listen to the "On Point" show online.
The Harpers article reveals high pressure on the Mary Kay recruits to purchase thousands of dollars of inventory, even before they make one sale, in order to instantly rise on Mary Kay multi-level sales ladder. The inventory loading is followed by the recruits being placed on a treadmill of monthly inventory purchases to remain "qualified" for possible future commissions.
In an online Blog, Ms. Sole-Smith discusses the particular ways that the Mary Kay scheme exploits the needs and challenges of women today.
The Harper's article signals a growing and long overdue interest of the media in the actual facts of multi-level marketing and the strange neglect of the Federal Trade Commission toward pyramid selling scams that are ravaging Main Street. Other articles and news reports have recently focused on Herbalife and Nu Skin, the political influence-buying of the MLM industry, and how the MLM industry pressured the FTC to exempt it from much needed disclosure rules.
Posted via email from Plan B
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