Life is full of inconsistencies. We just have to power through them
Anti-MLM Mondays: Tragedy and Death
Welcome back to another anti-MLM post. This week, we’ll be reacting to MLM posts about using tragedy and death to shill for products. Yes, that’s right. If using brainwashing tactics, emotional manipulation, and dangling the lifestyle over the heads isn’t enough, they will also use the tragedy of tragedies and the saddest of deaths to promote the product. Sometimes, they’ll promote the company as a whole.
When you think about the point where there should be a bottom… there isn’t one. I don’t think my trying to explain it would do justice, so I’m putting together 10 Reddit posts that encompass this “activity”. My reactions are in each caption.
A Reddit post from March 22, 2022, titled “Latest Herbalife cringe marketing *ukraine energy bomb*”. We have an Herbalife “shop owner”, I guess, that is capitalizing on the war between Russia and Ukraine by selling this drink that is supposedly in support of Ukraine. The “donate a portion” trope is just so that they feel good about donating in the first place, almost like a performative activism type of thing
A Reddit post from September 12, 2019, called “9/11 sale”. A Color Street Hun used the (at the time) 18th anniversary of the September 11th attacks by selling a nail set special to “honor” the lives lost that day. Basically using the anniversary of one of the darkest days in American history to make a quick buck
A Reddit post from July 3, 2019, titled “Posh is offering a special for 4th of July, a discount to military families. Military wives would be excellent mlm victims due to the cultish camaraderie.”. Perfectly Posh is a skincare MLM company, out of many skincare MLM companies. This post promotes their discounted starter kits as thanks to the military for serving the country.
4. Essential oils as an answer to breathing? Really?
A Reddit post from June 8, 2020, titled “Doterra huns are using George Floyd’s death to sell their crappy oils and it’s disgusting”. This really made me angry. Imagine using the death of a black man at the hands (or knees) of a white cop to sell essential oils that don’t make two cents. They don’t just use tragic anniversaries to make a quick buck. They also use the biggest news stories to promote their products, especially if that story ends in someone’s death
A Reddit post from October 2, 2022, titled “My mom’s house was affected by Hurricane Ian. A perfect time to plug Monat!”. My state got hit by Hurricane Ian late last month, and while people lost everything in that storm, a top earner’s mom is more concerned about getting her hair done with very little hot water than basically surviving. The top earner in question is part of the 10 Million Dollar Commission club (per the comments) and still has to sell like crazy because of how the system is set up.
A Reddit post from April 30, 2022, titled “[TW: Death of a parent] Monat Rep’s father is buried on the same day as an event. Not only does she go to the event, she uses his death to advertise her business.” Staying with Monat, a rep had to bury her father and her upline praised her because she still showed up for the business. I mean, if that is not cult-like behavior. The OP confirmed that the hun did in fact put a celebratory post at the bottom of the first photo. All of this is just awful. She can’t even say goodbye to her dad without wOrKiNg ThE bIz
7. Imagine having a sale on the anniversary of your friend’s death (or heavenly birthday)
A Reddit post from January 8, 2022, titled “Having a sale for the anniversary of your friends death 😬”. Using someone’s death to sell products doesn’t have to happen on the day of the event or even a few days after. Sometimes, huns use the anniversaries of personal tragedies to make a quick buck, like this hun here. I was confused about this post at first, as the title suggests the friend in question died and it’s the anniversary of that event, but the original FB post mentions “heavenly birthday”, which suggests that it’s the friend’s birthday, but they are not here to celebrate it. Either way, this is just shallow and predatory.
A Reddit post from February 8, 2022, titled “Influencer uses her friend’s devastating house-fire to pitch sales for MLM (in the name of “donating”).” In this two-pic post (you’ll have to click on it since WordPress won’t show images embedded from Reddit if it’s 2 or more pictures), a Beauty Counter uses her friend’s house fire to field “donations” aka discounting her sales and taking a self-imposed pay cut to send proceeds to her friend’s family. And I will ask this… why not just donate directly? If you truly cared about her and the situation, you wouldn’t stoop so low to take advantage of this, but we’re talking to an MLM hun, so this message is moot to her
9. This makes Travis Scott look like a saint, and that’s a practically low bar to not cross
A Reddit post from November 7, 2021, titled “MLM Hun tries to cash in on the Travis Scott concert disaster.” 10 people died during the tragedy at Astroworld and this hun is coping with her ruined experience by asking people to buy her DoTerra essential oils (although she said it’s for the victims). A classic “woe is me” situation. 10 families have to bury their loved ones because of this, and all this lady cares about is herself, so this promotion she put out tracks. Also, she’s defending Travis Scott, another walking red flag
A Reddit post from April 17, 2020, titled “For the lady who wants to coordinate her stick on nail polish with her favorite nautical disaster.” The Titanic, despite being built to last especially back then, sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg. Even though it happened over a century ago and people have drowned as a result, this Color Street hun used this tragedy to make a sale for her nail sticker collection. Tragedy aside, some people in the comments have clowned the hun for not having any blue nails on sale. I mean, dull colors and a nautical tragedy, this MLM sale checks out
These are the 10 posts I wanted to react to that fit the theme. I think each post showcased here has different scenarios going on, but they all come to the same conclusion — taking advantage of tragedy, personal or not, to promote their business, or to have some special that “honors” but completely misses the mark
33-year-old math enthusiast, Pokemon fan, Eurovision fan, Bingo player, anti-MLM watcher, meme consumer, YTP watcher, stans news reporters when no one else wants to, inconsistent in real life, a complete human mess, and professional social media lurker
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The Most Inconsistent Person in the World 
One thought on “Anti-MLM Mondays: Tragedy and Death”