The ugly side of selling beauty
Th ousands of women are trying to make extra money by flogging brands like The Body Shop from home. But, as these stories show, the promise of a luxury lifestyle can turn into a nightmare of mounting debt, lost friends – and marriages under threat
AS A sales rep for health and skincare brand Forever Living, Catherine Thornley rhapsodised on Facebook about her role.
Her business had paid for expensive shopping trips. Her complexion was glowing thanks to the company’s latest wonder cream. Flexible working gave her time to enjoy her two children.
Alongside her effusive words, she posted pictures suggesting an enviable lifestyle her friends would be mad not to want to emulate. If it were all true, that is. In fact, Catherine, 52, had become so obsessed with flogging Forever Living that she was lying about how much she was earning, her 20-year marriage was falling apart and she’d fallen out with friends sick of being used. Worse, she was paying hundreds of pounds of her own money into the company to meet the minimum t threshold of earnings she needed to keep her business afloat. ‘I was brainwashed,’ says Catherine. During three years working full-time for Forever Living — rising to become a manager with a team of 100 beneath her — she earned a total of only £5,000. ‘Thinking about it now brings me to tears. I kept believing the payment would eventually be bigger than my outgoings.’
Forever Living is one of a number of
Multi-level Marketing (MlM) companies facing criticism from some women who feel they have been exploited. others include Arbonne, Ariix, even the Body Shop. the once High- Street favourite now also sells its beauty products via sales reps on social media — you may well have seen them on Facebook.
they may even have become more frequent in recent weeks — since some MlM companies are reportedly using the pandemic to recruit sellers by offering flexible hours and work from home. their targets are predominantly women, often with young families.
the Direct Selling Association (DSA) estimates roughly 400,000 people in the UK are currently involved in direct selling in some way — around 76 per cent women.
Certainly the largely online business model has proved convenient during shop closures. the Body Shop saw ‘direct sales’ in the UK soar in the Covid-19 outbreak, rising to 30 per cent of revenues from 20 per cent previously.
MlM firms have a complex structure in which existing sales reps are encouraged, not just to sell the company’s product, but to recruit more people under them. For every rung of the ladder people climb, they get paid a higher percentage of sales profits. the person who recruits you is called your ‘upline’; your recruit is your ‘downline’.
FREQUENTLY, admits Catherine, women are recruited with lies: ‘I’d say I was making £1,500 a month, when I was lucky to be earning £500. I felt bad, but I was told by my upline to “fake it till you make it”.’
last month, the U.S. Federal trade Commission sent warning letters to six MlM companies, saying representatives had falsely claimed products could treat or prevent coronavirus — and buying into the business could replace lost earnings from the lockdown.
So why such eagerness to recruit new sellers? experts suspect some MlM companies are comparable to pyramid schemes — illegal businesses that make money by persuading more and more people to buy into their system, rather than through the sale of legitimate products or services.
While this is vehemently denied by the MlM companies who responded to the Mail’s request for comment, the fact remains: people who participate in these organisations risk either making no money, or losing money.
A 2018 study found 47 per cent of participants lose money, while 2011 research for the US Federal trade Commission found 99 per cent would lose money.
those at the very top fare better — Forever living’s founder rex Maughan, 83, has an estimated net worth of around £477 million.
It was the promise of more modest riches that lured Catherine, from Glasgow, who is married to thomas, 55, an academic, with daughters aged 23 and 18. She was recruited to Forever living in 2013 by a friend, while struggling as an actress. ‘She said I would quickly be able to earn up to £2,000 a month,’ she recalls.
Forever living sells products made from aloe vera, with popular lines including a £34 serum and £54 supplements. As with many MlMs, there is a start-up fee to join.
In Catherine’s case, this comprised £200 for a ‘starter kit’ of products. Although in debt at the time, she spent money she ‘ didn’t have’ for the kit, believing it could change her life Forever Living Founder: Rex Maughan and help her pay back her loans She was told to make a list of 10 people she knew to sell to o recruit. ‘I called people I hadn bothered to speak to for 20 years says Catherine. ‘they’d be pleased then once they realised why I wa calling they’d avoid me. I destroyed my confidence.’
She was told by her ‘upline’ t create three social media posts pe day — ‘a “lifestyle” post showin something my business had pai for, a “business” post about how much I loved a Forever livin product, and a “feel good” post explains Catherine. ‘ Friend ignored my posts or, if I approache them, quickly said “no thanks” But I was so determined I starte to think they were the fools for no being interested.
‘I was told to target women wit prams, as they’d be likely to wan flexible working. everythin became a business opportunity — in coffee shops, I’d ask my husban if women looked like “Forever liv ing people” I should approach.’
At first, Catherine succeeded b being ruthless: ‘I didn’t stop t think whether joining would b good for recruits. We were told no to waste time on people wh couldn’t sell once we’d signe them up — we let them flounder.’
Forever living conventions in which success stories wer paraded and prizes handed to to sellers, cemented her resolve. ‘th top salespeople were wavin cheques for £5 million,’ says Cath erine. ‘I thought I was going to b a millionaire.’
After a year with Forever living Catherine had persuaded he recruits to enlist dozens more unt she had 100 people beneath he selling £20,000 worth of product in a two-month period.
She was promoted to manage level, her commission rising from 38 to 48 per cent. But the pressur was immense — if she didn’t kee selling at that rate, she’d lose he commission. ‘ the people I’ recruited weren’t selling enough Cracks started to show. My bus ness was going to crumble.’
So she started spending hun dreds of pounds on products meet the minimum monthly threshold. ‘I had to keep face. didn’t tell my husband. We ha separate bank accounts.’
Guilt consumed Catherine who believes most women sh recruited didn’t have the menta ity to succeed and could ill affor the £200 starter kit. ‘I’d look fo vulnerability,’ she says.
In 2016, thomas told her he wa fed up with the way Forever livin had changed her, and wanted ou of the marriage if she didn’t quit. realised I’d ruined my family life — the whole reason I’d signed u in the first place.’ the £20,000 deb she’d hoped to pay off was als untouched, although she has sinc paid it off completely.
So she left Forever living to sav her marriage. She says most rep she knew blocked her on socia media, and has since apologised t those she left to flounder. ‘A tin minority do well,’ she says. ‘But a the bottom a lot of people are no being paid for their work.’
So what’s the difference betwee a pyramid scheme and a MlM? ‘I is a fine line,’ says marketing strat egist lyanna tsakiris ‘Both multi-level mar keting and pyramid schemes depend o continuous recruit ment, but a pyrami scheme offers a non existent or worth less product, while
MlM is at least