This post has been in my drafts over a year and I wanted to post it after reading Caroline Hirons’ post yesterday which was about brands she would NEVER feature on here blog. It’s not because of the actual products (well maybe a bit of that) but because of the brand ethics, and what I can gauge : The dreaded pyramid/ multi-level/ high commission-low wage selling brands. Online only selling brands can often be these pyramid-type selling schemes yet they all love to tell us it isn’t…. it really often is.
It’s not often that I feel that negatively about a brand that I want to dedicate a whole post to it, but here I am and here it is. At Christmas last year (*now the year before!) my eldest brother, had stopped in London for a day on his way home from Hong Kong to Jersey to do his Christmas shopping. He was super happy as he had brought mum a bunch of ‘amazing beauty products’ that appeared, and did, cost an arm and leg. What was the name I asked? Expecting it to be ‘La prairie’, ‘Sisley’, or such. When he replied I had never even heard of this brand and was baffled as to why he came out of this shop a good £600 less well off and how I had never heard of this wonderfully expensive brand. I am a beauty blogger and I know EVERYTHING about good brands. (tongue in cheek but basically)
The brand in this instance was SAKARE. He then explained as he was stumbling, very hungover out the lovely hotel where he was staying and towards oxford street where he was shopping, that he was approached by a man who demonstrated something on his nails….he didn’t need to go on. One of THOSE brands: Where they stand outside, traffic stopping, shouting at you and trying to coax you into their selling haven by promising to ‘show you something special’ to dupe you into store. They then will go through a strictly structured & heavily practiced selling method to push you to buy a load of overpriced crap.
I immediately googled the above brand, and alongside the amateurish website which by no means reflected its eye watering price points, I could see it was linked with a few negative discussions on threads and other sites. I suspiciously looked at the things he had purchased….Admittedly the bag and fancy deep brown and gold boxes that it all comes inside looks very opulent and fancy. It then goes downhill when you get product in hand and have a beauty inspector’s assessment ; cheap-ish looking packaging with shoddily stuck on stickers. Then we come to actually what’s inside these products ; As I peruse the ingredients, nothing jumps out to me and it reads like a Nivea skincare product, which is fine, IF IT DIDN’T COST 1000% MORE. This, in my mind is bordering on fraud. How can you dupe people into thinking that these things are something more exotic, elaborate and anti-ageing then what they actually are?
There is a reason why I/you have never heard of this brand, why you will never see it featured in magazines / blogs / publiations because industry people will not go near a brand like this. Their staff who are clearly working on a commission-based scheme (their desperation to sell anything and everything is a clear indicator) and have to stand outside the store to quite literally pull people in. The body cream costs £40. The hand cream that comes in a cheap feeling plastic tube with awkward hand-stuck labels on them costs £30. £30?? This is an absolute disgrace. I would not pay more than £3 for it it after trying it and this is not even an exaggeration. The below pics give an example of the packaging ; the scrub which is really peeling wasn’t immediately after purchase but a few months on.
I felt quite sad for my brother as he was so happy at his purchases and his shiny nails that I didn’t have the heart and still haven’t ever told him. Hear’s to hoping he doesn’t know my blog exists! It just angers me that he wasted his money on these things and I can only imagine so many people do the same, and feel backed into a corner to part ways with their money. Yes, you may say it’s their fault for agreeing to purchase said products but we have all been there ; where you are drawn into something from a false and OTT spiel and end up realising that you have to buy something to be polite/ get the sales associate to STFU. I’ve worked in retail, I’ve seen it with my own eyes and it just makes me feel upset at poor, vulnerable customers wanting genuine help and advice and walking away with a bagful of things that they didn’t want and DON’T DO what they wanted.
The moral of this story ; I’m not so sure……just be wary of these traffic stopping brands that feel the need to push products onto you. I’m seeing similar selling tactics online with brands such as Younique, Arbonne, Motives, Herbalife etc etc ; constant comments, tweets and e-mails trying to sell me these products. I had a ‘friend’ on FACEBOOK (who’s never worked in beauty) messaging me offering me her sympathies after my mum passed away, in the same breath she tried to sell me some Arbonne ; Seriously I’ve been working in the beauty industry over 12 years now, I probably know more about the products you are trying to push my way so go elsewhere with that Bullshit.
If a brand has to approach you, pester and sell in a pushy way, then I would suggest perhaps getting some good trainers on a running…far, far away. I can maybe lend you some.
Agree? Thoughts? Comments?
