Younique and facebook

[Paddington68]

One fo my friends has recently started selling this stuff - Younique make-up.
On Facebook she has become this embodiment of positivity, lots of quotes, lots of photos. Then she does these videos about the product and her happy, happy life.
I know that in real life she doesn't have a happy, happy life and we (she and I) have talked previously about how other people's happy, happy, facebook can be damaging to mental health or hide mental health issues.
AIBU to think younique is like a cult and tell her to stop the pretending?

I also find it appalling that 'having fun with makeup' is portrayed as an inspiring opportunity for women wishing to balance work and motherhood.

If someone wants to 'have fun with makeup' they are better off spending the money on training to take a qualification and become a beautician or make up artist. They can then find part-time work at a salon. At least that way they will have an hourly wage, NI contributions and a pension.

I am old enough to remember the Women Empowering Women scheme. A friend approached me with this in 2001 - I just found it laughable, but an otherwise intelligent woman had clearly got sucked in. This type of scheme was made illegal:

www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/aug/05/tracymcveigh.theobserver

But MLM is clearly different because there are products involved...

I have an old school friend who is high up in Herbal Life. Obviously I don't know how high up but he definitely presents on stage at conferences and he's been with them at least 8 years. I wish I knew how much he really does earn from It because I'm sure it can't be as much as he makes out but it must be enough to keep him doing it.

He has 2 'shops' now. They are nutrition shops and seem to be centred around weight loss clubs. Obviously whilst only stocking the dreaded herbal shite. It seems to be the herbal life way now that they open nutrition clubs in some for or another.

It makes me irrationally angry. Partly because I fell for the 'I need just 5 more people to test our new program' many years ago. I only bought the shakes and bars and they were fine but it's just meal replacement. They pray on the vulnerable.

I bought the bloody herbal life starter kit and got dragged along to a fit club bullshit evening. Lots of very very vulnerable women spending money they didn't have to lose weight. The woman running the "free" Class was basically making us throw sacks of sand around in a really back breakingly scary way. She was the wife of a director where I worked. I was extensively questioned about my lifestyle and when my answers didn't match up to her questions she ticked a box on her form saying I wasn't a viable option. I was asked to leave her class because I asked about the nutritional value and the safety of tossing 15 kilo "cobra" sacks over your back.. I have loved this thread because I do see women being pulled into this mysoginstic unpleasantness. There really are lots of ways to stay home and earn that do not involve this.

I had a friend who went full MLM crazy with Younique. It's fascinating reading the Elle Beau blog to see the reasoning behind all of her Facebook posts - it was like she was following the template. So blessed, bossbabe, etc.

She tried to recruit me, but I don't wear makeup that often, and when I do it's just lipstick and mascara. And I don't think I've ever paid over a tenner for either of those!

I don't know what she did, but her activities eventually got her banned from Facebook!

Getting banned from Facebook is an occupational hazard. You are not allowed to use your page for mainly commercial activity and the bots often step over the line. It's also the reason why you see inane posts mixed in with the selling posts. They are just trying to keep their spam ratios down. They ask questions (recommendations etc) because they think the Facebook algorithm counts the replies as genuine engagement.

Ugh. Any friend that starts MLM, I send them Elle Beaus blog and distance myself from x

I used to be a Mormon and MLMs are massive in the Mormon/LDS world. I must have 50 friends minimum that do it. I think the whole "fake it until you make it" attitude ties well into the religion on the whole. Very much a put a smile on attitude.

I've seen some who seem, at least from how they present their Facebook and themselves to make a decent living from it, but mostly people who get all excited, spend a fortune and then give up a few months down the line. A lot of members are fed up of being constantly bombarded with sale pitches youquire and deterra being by far the most popular but then forever, osborne etc are popular too.

It's scary how absorbed people become with it, it's scary how people will give stories to sell products and scary how they take advantage. I have children with autism and it's like they see that and the see me as a cash cow. I've never bitten but I know many who have and the amount of money they spend and then realise is isn't the cure it's made out to be.

I know someone who sells Juice+. She recently announced on FB that her biznis has allowed her to jack in her part-time job. Except that I happen know she was let go, it wasn't her choice to leave her job.

She's not someone I'd call a critical thinker but she is someone that I always thought as a honest good person so this outright lie on social media did shock me and has made me view her very differently.

@mummyhaschangedhername
I hope you don't mind if I ask you a question about Mormonism.
I watched the BBC documentary today and one of the interviewees mentioned that appearance (youth, beauty and lifestyle) was very important in the Mormon community. Why is this? I am just intrigued as some other branches of Christianity are quite against being focused on your appearance or material possessions. Is it to present a good image of the church, or make it seem aspirational?

wetpants
What you have to remember is that downlines those at the bottom of the pyramid that isn't a pyramid have essentially been groomed into it. The people near the top know they have got where they are by joining early on so that timing alone places them in an advantageous position to acquire wealth near the top of the pyramid which is, and i repeat, totally not a pyramid.

Well meaning and gullible people who are near the bottom get hooked with a lie, the 'solution' to whatever problem they have (e.g. holiday for the kids, work from home, bit of spare cash for swimming - and yes it is usually guilt and child related because that's what the chief bots prey on). Once in the MLM cult of choice, they are pressurised by up lines to fake it til they make it, cut out any negativity from their life, told anyone who raise a concerns is unsupportive and jealous of them, they get told if they just work harder they can have whatever they want fixing in their life, to maintain their status they have to buy more of their own products, attend conferences etc. Once they've sunk so much money in they feel trapped because they know it isn't working but their up lines spent 18 hours bitching about Mandy who left, calling her fat and ugly, saying she didn't work hard enough, that Mandy was an example to everyone of what can happen if you don't spend your time building your business & keep negative people in your life. They know Mandy was deleted by her so called MLM family who had no interest in continuing friendships she thought were real when she was crawling the walls with 2 small children at home. They want to keep in touch with Mandy but the upline bot makes it clear that speaking to Mandy will just drag them down and they should be thinking about keeping the company of fellow bots who uplift and inspire each other.

It's a manipulative world that feeds on those at the bottom of the pyramid triangular shaped 3d structure based on totally legitimate sales.

@wetpants it's not the first time that MLMs have made a dishonest person out of an honest one.

Good half an hour documentary on LuluRoe, a clothing MLM.

Loved this thread. My main issues with the huns on my fb is the way they make light of owning your own business. For years I worked very hard physically and mentally to earn some decent money. Then to see someone who posts a photo of themselves on their sofa or in their garden, with the caption " my office for today", made me so angry.

One woman has posted a little top ten presenters table to show off that she's number 8, however it showed their monthly sales. I worked out that she earned approx £300 that month. So how much does everyone else earn if the top ten only earn £300?!?

I'm reading Derren Browns "Happy" and the sales pitches that evangelical churches use are almost identical to what MLM's use it's a religion without a religion - scary

Thanks for the link @SweatyUnderboob found that documentary fascinating. Those poor women, the sums involved in LulaRoe are shocking. I'd heard about them from a Buzzfeed article where they banged on about how amazing the leggings were but that was obviously (undisclosed) advertising paid for by LulaRoe!

Following someone who just gained black status and everyone is literally sobbing and been up all night waiting to see if she achieved it. I know its the highest ranking you can get but how will this be life changing?

My friends been trying to get me to do yo younique and was actually thinking about it ... until I read this thread ! Have done more research now

I think when you are literally begging people to buy mascara off you so you can hit your 'Black status' is hardly an achievement.

I'm reading Derren Browns "Happy" and the sales pitches that evangelical churches use are almost identical to what MLM's use it's a religion without a religion - scary

MLMs are cults - they use all the same tactics to suck people in. Anyone can fall victim to then which is why it’s so important for people to have the balls to say no and not to follow the herd, to use their own intelligence when it comes to researching these awful MLM schemes, question everything, and for those who have been screwed over to tell their stories so that fewer people will lose money and valuable time on this manipulative nonsense.

@BSintolerant I agree. My friend who left mlm said that people should watch the Joe Rogan and Leah Remini podcast when she talks about being a Scientologist and leaving.

It's recruitment and treatment of people while in the cult and the treatment should they leave is EXACTLY the same as mlm.

When she explained it all to me I couldn't believe what I heard.

Younique is disgusting! I joined in July 2018, a few months into my mat leave when the kit was on offer. Not going to lie, i did make some money however the income was not consistent. in two months i made about £100 and that was it. Not really what i expected i thought i would make more. But as i was approaching three months in, all of a sudden i was encouraged to hit 'pink status'. that meant recruiting at least one or two people, those people making at least £125 for the company and between us we had to make $2000 in a month!!! how ridiculous i was under so much pressure and constantly told that when you hit pink status then you are going to the top. I never hit pink. i refused to cold message people and get people to join. all the training was based around recruiting and its the only way to the top. My upline was making money off my sales and that annoyed me more. but the icing on the cake......she added every single person on my facebook, anyone who liked or commented on my posts she added them as a friend and then she put them in her group.
The only way you will make money is by recruiting and for your recruits to recruit etc. DO NOT DO IT!
I was then encouraged to constantly post on my wall, putting up selfies, positive thoughts, pics of me spending time with my family. i was told to cut out all negativity and if people say no then to carry on persuing them.
Then theres the monthly specials. we are encouraged to buy the product so we can show it off to others. i dont have £60 a month to spend on products that may or may not sell!!!
As for promoting when you join, there are two basic levels. White and Yellow. to hit white status you need to sell £125 worth of products. Now here comes the JOKE!!! when you join, there are special products in bundles just for new presenters to purchase. they are discounted. you are encouraged to buy those bundles so you have the product on hand. so basically you buy your own stock, that equates to $125 and boom your are 'promoted'. you are then shouted at on the rooftops with your upline bragging on their fb posts about how someone has joined her and been promoted within a few days! thats not a promotion. I used my own money!!!!!!
There is so much about this so called 'opportunity' that is a SCAM and whether people like it or not, they encourage you to target vulnerable people.

The makeup is mostly absolutely terrible, and the items that aren't absolutely terrible are still poor value for money because you could buy products of a similar quality in any Boots or Superdrug for about 2/3 the price.

The entire business model is exploitative shit and the 'presenters' all spout the same brainwashed bollocks which is painful to hear. It absolutely shocking that they are still allowed to operate.

If you have a friend who is constantly bombarding you with sales guff, quietly mute/unfollow her on social media. But to be honest it won't last long because she'll end up badly out of pocket and then quit.

I have a friend who swears blind that she is making soooo much money with Tropic that it was able to find her holiday to Benidorm this year. She's an accountant and her husband is a manager at a nuclear factory (which pays lots more than regular factories because of safety risks) I felt like saying "why can't you afford a holiday anyway?!". She has had MH issues in the past and every day posts about them and how Tropic has basically cured everything wrong with her because it's made her love her "true self". She hasn't tried to recruit me but she asks every week if I want to host a party. I asked her how much she makes from the parties and she says £200+ per party. Which means, considering reps get 25% commission she must sell £800 of stuff at one party. Hmm, methinks she talks crap.

She didn't like it when I said I make £100-£150 a week matched betting (which involves no recruiting, risk, or cringed Facebook posts)