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Original poster

Why are all my friends becoming Body Shop consultants?

160 replies

Coffeebiscuitsrepeat · 03/06/2020 12:06

Since I hit 30, I've noticed at least 6 of my wider friendship group do this. Is it actually profitable? Is it MLM? I'm just curious mostly, as it looks like quite a lot of effort to drum up sales!

OP posts:
BessMarvin · 03/06/2020 14:50

There's a local mutual aid fb group and they started a thread for local businesses who can deliver essentials at the moment. I counted 8 MLM posts.

Hmm essential wax.

BessMarvin · 03/06/2020 14:50

@Mucklowe

I see BS as an ethical company

Give over! It might have been in the Anita Roddick days, but since it was bought by L'Oreal, it's about as ethical as Trump Ltd.

Didn't L'Oréal sell it a while ago?
Crosswordocelot · 03/06/2020 14:56

Is tropic the same? Several of my friends have invited me to like their tropic pages recently. And another friend is peddling some weightloss item. I've no idea what it is and can see a mile off it's a mlm but obvs you have to pm her to find out about the "amazing results".

myusernamewastakenbyme · 03/06/2020 14:57

Why do all these bots address each other as 'hun'?

MyChemicalRomancee · 03/06/2020 15:01

@myusernamewastakenbyme
Or they call us hun Shock

Why are all my friends becoming Body Shop consultants?
RightOnTheEdge · 03/06/2020 15:01

Body Shop is now owned by a Brazilian company who also own Avon.
They sell themselves as an eco, sustainable company and use "real women" instead of models.

My Facebook has been taken over by friends selling juice plus, make up etc.
I would mind if one of them did Body Shop I'd probably buy some.

YouokHun · 03/06/2020 15:07

I see BS as an ethical company

Look again...BS was sold to L’Oreal as mentioned above. Could you get less ethical? It was then sold to Natura who also own Avon (who have a poor record for animal cruelty). To me BS is just big business dressed up as a cozy home grown Ethical company and it seems many have the same cynical view as BS has lost a lot of customers and has been struggling as a result. They started their MLM arm in 1994 (thanks Anita 🙄). If you’re the end customer (Not signed up to BS) then there’ll be no difference where you buy BS but it’s not you who will be damaged by it, it’s the person signed up thinking they can replace income and make a reasonable profit. It’s very tricky to make any money at all in a consistent way.

On Radio 4, Woman’s Hour this morning there was a discussion about MLM. The woman talking about her experience in MLM (Flamingo Paperie) said that she spent £200 to start up and was “in profit” after SIX MONTHS! She’d clearly put in lots of hours, fine if you want a hobby but what if that £200 is all you’ve got and it’s imperative you earn money and fast? This is why people are signing up now and they are going to be disappointed. I see huge fallout from COVID MLM recruitment a few months down the line. When it goes wrong for the vast majority they’ll probably think is because they didn’t try hard enough :(

@BessMarvin totally agree, it’s not YOUR business. That’s what the previous sign ups to Phoenix Trading thought until PTwent bust and overnight they didn’t have businesses anymore and lost money ... that biz resurfaced as Flamingo Paperie.

covidmonkey · 03/06/2020 15:08

My Facebook friend sells Tupperware and jewellery. I get regularly invitations to Tupperware parties.

JasperRising · 03/06/2020 15:11

She's been doing it for about a year and Apparently she has more than 600 people in her team. My friend is her auntie and not usually gullible. It's seems like she really could be making a lot of money.

As FM world only really seems to have got widespread recently it is possible that after a year she is doing well. A small percentage of people do make money and that is what they use to sell the idea to others. Unfortunately, that small percentage is generally 1% or less so the odds of that being you or your friends really is small...

The car is probably on a lease plan. And the holidays are probably only partially paid for by the company and they will double up as training/brainwashing events.

The Body Shop is ok in terms of its products compared with some of the crap sold by other MLMs but it's still bad in terms of the income MLM reps can('t) earn.

Marpan · 03/06/2020 15:21

I have a few people that are right into these pyramid schemes.

They are completely offended when I don’t want to join their “business”

The body shop have their own website.

I did a thesis on these schemes - total waste of time.

Crosswordocelot · 03/06/2020 15:21

I had an acquaintance on fb (wouldnt say she was a close friend) and about 6 years ago she put a cut and paste template post about how she had started using herballife/juice plus (cant remember which one it was but it was allegedly amazing) and made her feel so much better after having a baby and she had lost weight, her hair, skin and nails were better etc , but it sounded really scripted and not something someone would actually say IRL. Contact her for details. A few years later she was asking for advice on what supplement she could take to improve one of the issues that she had previously waxed lyrical about.

littlealexhorne · 03/06/2020 15:34

I think I've got one friend trying to sell body shop, and a couple more selling weight loss coffee (its just pumped full of laxatives). I prefer the body shop pushing as it least it will do what it claims, but its all a bit annoying really.

Original poster
Coffeebiscuitsrepeat · 03/06/2020 15:35

@InDubiousBattle I have not once insinuated that 'women' are stupid. I am one, after all. Wink Just genuinely interested to know what the appeal is. Doesn't seem like there is much in it to me. I also watched an episode about MLM on Netflix I think it was, and people literally lost thousands of pounds at the hands of these kind of things. I would have thought that there would be better ways of making money that doesn't involve signing up to one.

OP posts:
UnderTheBus · 03/06/2020 15:39

I have a facebook friend, an ex colleague, who invited me to like her "tropic skincare" facebook group. I dont use skincare and I dont have any money to spare, so I didnt join. She has sent me 5 invitations to join the group now 🙄

Iamthewombat · 03/06/2020 15:43

One of them seems to be doing very well and has a new Mercedes / trips to America planned

Is that what she told you?

I went to Prague for the weekend, about five years ago, and it was full of British people wearing Herbalife T shirts. I assume that they had paid to attend some sort of conference where they were told that the sky was the limit and they could be millionaires, etc. I felt a bit sorry for them. Loads were on the same plane back to Manchester as us. DH and I were fascinated by their check-in queue conversations. It was all “fake it ‘til you make it” and “anyone who doesn’t support your business isn’t worthy of being your friend”. They were brainwashed. I’d love to know how long they lasted in the Herbalife empire. They were all talking about how great the products were so I assume that they were using most of it themselves.

ErickBroch · 03/06/2020 15:44

Ugh I hate these MLMs they prey on single/stay at home mums who are desperate for extra income. Of course I understand why they do it as they want the money, but these companies just chat so much shit that most of them end up losing money Angry

AllZoomedOut · 03/06/2020 15:46

To claim benefits probably. When starting a new business you have a year to claim benefits without income from the business (of which there is non) being taken into account. After that they assume that you are making at least minimum wage.

Holothane · 03/06/2020 15:47

I love body shop face cream it’s expensive but a luxury for me I buy direct from them.

alltoomuchrightnow · 03/06/2020 15:47

Some of my friends have and even though not joined their group I get every single post ! Why is that??
I do use some Body Shop products but it would be the same cost to buy online, there's more offers I think? To buy from them would incur postage too

alltoomuchrightnow · 03/06/2020 15:48

I meant, probably cheaper to buy online
I don't get the BS thing as there are actual high street shops (that will re open soon) so it's hardly niche?

InDubiousBattle · 03/06/2020 15:49

I didn't say you did op, it was more the tone of these threads in general, I think they are a bit sneery. My friend started up with Temple Spa because she'd left an incredibly high pressure, long hours job and wanted to make a bit of cash whilst 'in between' jobs. I've no idea how she's getting on with it, it seemed quite expensive stuff and, given that I didn't know the name of her product from a park in Leeds, I'm perhaps not her target audience!

Iamthewombat · 03/06/2020 15:56

given that I didn't know the name of her product from a park in Leeds, I'm perhaps not her target audience!

That gave me a laugh when I read your original post. I was trying to imagine one of those schemes selling Temple Newsam-style stately homes!

beachdreaming2020 · 03/06/2020 16:03

I heard some of the MLM article on BBCR4 women’s hour today and one of the advocates for it seemed to be saying that for her it was an identity thing, and she desperately didn’t want to be known as “just a mum of twins” which was why she is so passionate about MLMs. I was willing the interviewer to ask her how being an MLM exploiter (she has a team under her) is in any way a better identity...the mind boggles.

JonnyPocketRocket · 03/06/2020 16:06

Who are you guys hanging out with? I feel like I have a fairly diverse set of both actual friends and SM "friends", and I don't know a single person selling these products! One girl used to sell Virgin Vie in about 2002 but that's the only time I've come across it.
TBH the perfume one sounds quite good - that's no different from buying your chicken in Aldi because they use the same suppliers as Waitrose, is it? (And no, I don't work for any of the aforementioned!)