Fun fact: the UK has banned over 1,300 potentially harmful chemicals in consumer products. In stark contrast, the US has prohibited less than 15. Acutely aware of, and outraged by, this staggering statistic, entrepreneur and mother Gregg Renfrew took her own stand against toxins. In 2013, she launched Beautycounter, a clean-ingredient skincare and cosmetics brand, and shook the beauty industry.
In just five years, Renfrew’s message had travelled from Santa Monica across the country. It had even made its way into my bathroom cupboard just outside Boston. Even more remarkably, Beautycounter achieved national success without a single storefront or major distributor.
Beautycounter’s success was not just about clean beauty; instead, it represents a long history of women creating economic opportunities for themselves outside of traditional, male-dominated corporate spaces.
The Direct Sales Approach
The company used a direct-to-consumer sales method, relying on a network of independent consultants to market and sell products through face-to-face interaction. Renfrew’s initiative, creating quality products that were safe for people and the planet, resonated particularly with women. As a result, the majority of Beautycounter’s consultants were female, many of them mothers.
According to a 2018 interview with Renfrew, the company’s sales method aimed to create “economic opportunity for women, where they have the opportunity to sell a product that they believe in and get paid on the sale of that product.”
Until recently, I never questioned Beautycounter’s sales method. Through my mom, who briefly worked as a consultant, I witnessed the motivation and purpose that Beautycounter could bring to women who had been systemically excluded from the working world. I believed Renfrew’s promise rang true.
Promise Versus Reality
In recent years, however, a tumultuous decline in sales and a change in leadership led Beautycounter to declare bankruptcy. Unbeknownst to me, Beautycounter had been under scrutiny for some time, accused of operating as a pyramid scheme that concentrated wealth among only the top consultants.
Renfrew claimed that consultants could earn a six-figure income, pay the mortgage, and reach financial freedom. However, according to the company’s 2019 income disclosure statement, the typical Beautycounter distributor earned little to no money. While 0.2% of consultants were identified as “top earners,” over 80% earned approximately $500 a year, and 21% earned nothing at all. Unsurprisingly, many distributors were left disillusioned by Beautycounter’s lofty promises.
The Origins of the “Party Plan”
Beautycounter’s sales method is not new; it was popularized in the early 1950s. After entrepreneur Brownie Wise was told that management was “no place for a woman,” she left her job at Stanley Home Products in favor of freelance sales. Wise pioneered the art of “Tupperware parties,” bringing groups of women together in intimate, domestic settings. These gatherings propelled plastic food containers into worldwide recognition and turned Wise into a sensation. She became the first woman to appear on the cover of Business Week magazine.
Empowerment or Exploitation?
However, this “party plan” sales method, coined by Brownie Wise and later employed by companies like Beautycounter, is a double-edged sword. On one hand, the flexible, self-directed nature of these positions enables women to work outside the rigidity of a 9-to-5 job. This could be especially empowering for mothers balancing paid work with childcare responsibilities. On the other hand, multilevel direct selling organizations may sell false promises, exploit cultural pressures placed on mothers, and perpetuate the gendered occupational divide.
The “Tupperware party” began as a situational response to the sexist and patriarchal corporate world of 1950s America. While it was once a necessity, its continued prevalence nearly seventy-five years later reflects the persistence of structural gender inequality. If workplaces genuinely improved parental support, flexibility, and access to leadership opportunities, perhaps women would not need to rely on the “party plan” to achieve financial security. The deeper issue underlying companies like Beautycounter is the painful awareness that they continue to fill a gap that should no longer exist.