Mary Kay Goes After Retailmenot For Promoting Mary Kay

from the what? dept

I'm not a coupon person. I don't know why I'm not, but I don't find myself at the grocery store digging through a coupon wallet the way my mother did to ensure I get $.25 off on that discounted meat I like to buy for a little game I call "Will this kill me tonight?" When shopping online, however, it's a completely different story. Like many others, checking out of an online store isn't complete until I run the brand or retailer through a search engine to see if there are any online coupons I can use. One of the common sites that comes up is RetailMeNot, an aggregator of coupon codes. Sometimes the codes work, more often they don't, but it's all part of my buying process.

And you have to imagine that, for the most part, retailers love sites like this. Coupons, after all, are designed to get buyers to try out a store or a brand. Making those coupons more widely available should naturally result in more first-tries, more purchases when there might otherwise be less. It's a promotional tool, if nothing else, likely a free advertising source for these stores and brands. Mary Kay Cosmetics, in its never-ending wisdom, has decided to sue RetailMeNot for fraud and trademark infringement, litigating against the hand that feeds them.

Mary Kay Cosmetics is suing affiliate site Google Ventures-backed RetailMeNot in federal court for precisely for this reason. The company doesn’t sell directly to the public — though its corporate site makes it appear otherwise — and says it doesn’t offer deals or coupons. Therefore the company says that RetailMeNot’s presentation of Mary Kay coupons misleads consumers and harms the brand and its relationship with its sales reps (independent consultants) in several ways.
Okay, a couple of things to note from that pull quote. First, Mary Kay absolutely does sell direct to customers on its website. Not its entire catalog, perhaps. For that, you probably have to deal with one of the low-on-the-pyramid "sales reps" that hasn't figured out the Mary Kay business model yet. As for whether Mary Kay offers coupons or deals, they absolutely do that, too. You can get free gifts with certain purchase amounts or free shipping on certain amounts, for instance. I played along at the Mary Kay website to find out, so you can see the screenshot below.


Now, while these aren't the kinds of coupons that have a code, the kind that people will usually travel to a site like RetailMeNot to get, so what? RetailMeNot is a service for alerting consumers to sales, coupons, and deals. When there is no coupon code, the site drives traffic directly to the retailer's site for the deal instead. For instance:



The Mary Kay site is displayed and consumers are directed there for their needs. I have no idea where the fraud is here and, if it's trademark infringement, it's the kind of infringement most businesses should be begging for. Driving traffic of interested consumers directly to your website? That deserves a "thank you", not a lawsuit.

And, in truth, the higher ups at Mary Kay probably have no problem with any of this. Unfortunately, the Mary Kay business model means that consumers visiting the website really aren't Mary Kay's most important customers. It's lower level employees are. The folks at the bottom of the triangle have been complaining that their customers are referencing the deals on the Mary Kay site that RetailMeNot is pointing out and demanding the same deals from the local reps. And, because Mary Kay makes a fat percentage of its money directly from those reps, rather than from consumers, pissed off "Independant Beauty Consultants" are a problem. Hence the stupid lawsuit in which Mary Kay admits as much.

RMN’s listing of these “sales,” “deals,” and “coupons” harms Mary Kay and its relationship with its customers (the IBCs). Mary Kay has received various complaints from IBCs and others, who have been pressured by customers to accept and/or honor the false or unauthorized “coupons” posted on RMN’s website.
RetailMeNot's site is pointing back to Mary Kay's website. That's what makes all of this not only legal, but certainly not underhanded. Now, I still can't quite fathom why Mary Kay, even after admitting who its real customers are in a legal filing, can't immediately be disbanded as a pyramid scheme, but that's entirely besides the point. RMN is under no obligation to keep Mary Kay customers happy and driving traffic to a retailer's website isn't grounds for a lawsuit. And it appears the site is willing to fight, according to the statement it provided.
RetailMeNot, Inc. takes concerns related to third party intellectual property very seriously. RetailMeNot, Inc. continues to believe that it operates in compliance with law and in the best interests of consumers and its retail partners by aggregating information to help shoppers save money using its websites and mobile apps. RetailMeNot, Inc. believes the allegations in this lawsuit are without merit and intends to vigorously contest this matter.
Sigh. No good deed and all that....

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Filed Under: coupons, promotions
Companies: mary kay, retailmenot


Reader Comments

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  1. identicon
    Thrudd, 23 Mar 2015 @ 3:02pm

    So who built the Pyramids?

    If pyramid schemes are so illegal then why are they allowed and encouraged to operate?
    Marykaye Amerisource Amway. .. any others people care to list?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2015 @ 3:04pm

    It seems to me a polite email to Retail Me Not from Mary Kay would have rectified this PR problem.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2015 @ 3:05pm

    Re: So who built the Pyramids?

    They aren't. Independent contractors signed into salesman roles are not representative of a pyramid scheme.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. icon
    OldMugwump (profile), 23 Mar 2015 @ 3:53pm

    Re:

    And then how would the lawyers get paid?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2015 @ 4:18pm

    Re: So who built the Pyramids?

    It isn't a pyramid scheme. I have been signed up for one for a while to get some of the products at a discount. Not going anywhere with it and don't plan too. You can truly make money in it if you work hard. But like starting a new business, you need to work long hours, and put a lot of money into it. The people that usually fail are probably missing one of those 2 points.
    I figured if I was going to start a business, it would be my own business and not dependent on some other company.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2015 @ 4:23pm

    Re: Re:

    And how would they show the IBC they were doing something if there was no record of a legal filing?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 1:44am

    Re: So who built the Pyramids?

    Amway... man oh man does that bring back memories.

    "Our products are top quality, but it's not the products that are important, it's the... (all together now) business model."

    What a bunch of crock...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2015 @ 1:53am

    Re: Re: So who built the Pyramids?

    You do realise that you could sign up with a franchise instead. You also have to put in money and time but you get to reap the rewards of your own work directly.

    ANY business model where your income depends on "underlings" passing on their income up a chain is a pyramid scheme.

    How much of a pyramid scheme it is depends on the specifics.

    Obviously the worst of the worst require its "members" withhold or lie about income information (even to the state) while imposing what is basically it's own flat income tax and double-dipping into revenues on top of that.

    I've seen at least 50 cases of people working for MLMs who eventually went bankrupt even though they met their monthly / yearly goals.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    Violynne (profile), 24 Mar 2015 @ 3:10am

    I wonder if they filed their motion on pink letterhead.

    To be honest, I didn't even know Mary Kay was still around. I haven't seen their infamous pink Cadillacs in years.

    There's a blessing in that. They were really ugly cars.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    Gwiz (profile), 24 Mar 2015 @ 8:16am

    Dark Helmet and Fragrance-Free Satan Hands Hand Cream.

    There's a joke in there somewhere....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    Gwiz (profile), 24 Mar 2015 @ 8:18am

    Re:

    Crap. Meant "Satin", not "Satan.

    Hmmm...might even be funnier though.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    John Fenderson (profile), 24 Mar 2015 @ 11:05am

    I know why I'm not

    I'm not a coupon person. I don't know why I'm not


    I know exactly why I'm not a coupon person: because the cost/benefit ratio does not favor the use of coupons. The amount you can save is less than the value of the time and energy required to make any real use of them.

    I suspect that people who are really into couponing enjoy the process itself. For them, it's totally worth it since it's essentially a hobby that comes with a financial benefit. I'm not one of those people.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Troy A. Wilson Sr., 1 Apr 2015 @ 10:46am

    Multi-Level Marketing

    Mary Kay is Multi-Level Marketing, no a pyramid scheme. As the husband of a former Mary Kay consultant, I can tell you that it is a legitimate business model that fed my kids and payed my bills for years, as well as provided us with new cars to drive. It is work, hard work, but legit. MK made a mistake by offering to sell directly to consumers online and it really pisses off the IBC.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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