I wouldn’t class this as real Younique news, but I figured some of you would find this little story amusing. It finally happened this month; Younique Corporate blocked me on Twitter and Instagram.

What a momentous way to mark the first anniversary of Chapter 1 of my #Poonique tale’s appearance!

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How did this happen?

Long-time followers of my social media accounts will know that I don’t tend to go around trolling/baiting presenters – they tend to come to me, and often give me a good game of MLM Bingo. So, that may explain why its taken a good year of Elle Beau’s existence before receiving this badge of honour.

Funnily enough, my blocking was triggered by involving myself in the great “Is Younique Cruelty-Free” debate. Something I just couldn’t hold back from when I saw it appear on my newsfeed. I regret nothing.

It all began with this question from ‘Rose’, appearing in my Twitter feed because one of my network “liked” it.

A Twitter user wants to know Younique’s animal testing stance, as they apparently have decided not to reply to her initial email.

‘Silvia’ of Younique Corporate is here to shed some light on the situation.

Or not.

Instead, Silvia simply produces the same old copy/paste response we’ve become so familiar with…

“…Although Younique does not test its products on animals and is confident that its product manufacturers do not conduct such tests, we have not pursued formal certification at this time…”

Now where have we heard this shit before? Try EVERY DAMN TIME someone asks Younique Corporate for their cruelty-free stance.

For argument’s sake, it makes an appearance in my Younique Presenters, you’ve got to stop saying you’re Cruelty-Free article, and I’ve even found a bonus inbox submission that a follower sent a few weeks back.

For good measure, they also asked a bonus question:

Naturally, another copy/paste response, of how their products “are not manufactured in facilities that are certified as ‘vegan’, not has Younique sought ‘vegan’ certification…” Getting real tired of your deflective shit, Younique.

Fortunately, that doesn’t wash with ‘Rose’.

‘Rose’ correctly points out that “some Younique reps are saying in their posts that the products are cruelty free. This is false advertising isn’t it, if there is no formal certification?“

What does Younique Corporate have to say to that?

Another copy/paste response, with a cop-out request to take the discussion into private messages. Why? Let’s be honest, it just gives the impression that they simply don’t care about the false claims their presenters are making. As they are classed as “independent presenters”, Younique can easily distance themselves from anything the presenters choose to say.

It was quite funny to see ‘Rose’ pointing out the misspelled #Youniqiuecustomercare hashtag, though.

The copy/paste answers don’t wash with this particular Twitter user, who also voices her displeasure. “‘Confident’ isn’t a straight answer […] What would a company ‘this successful’ have to lose by proving its cruelty free?“

There’s not much in terms of a constructive answer, just another cop-out request from Silvia to take the discussion into private messages. This Twitter user isn’t satisfied with that.

“Why can’t you reply on here? Most cruelty free company’s [sic] are very transparent about the issue. I wonder why you aren’t.”

To date, there has been no response.

There’s a part of me that feel sorry for ‘Silvia’ at Younique Corporate. Is she just a genuine soul, who doesn’t realise she’s been employed by a viper pit? Or, does she know full-well what kind of a company she’s working for?

My pal Bot Watch, watcher of bots, thinks that ‘Silvia’ could even be “an ABC News bot or something…“

It was around this point that this tweet exchanged appeared in my newsfeed. After seeing yet more cruelty-free nonsense being bandied around, I really couldn’t bite my tongue.

If Silvia is a real person, I do feel she deserves better. The more pressing matter is, that this nonsense about presenters claiming Younique is cruelty-free shows no sign of ending. Younique Corporate clearly have no interest in obtaining Leaping Bunny status, even after all these years. Remember this screenshot from 2013, as mentioned in my recent article about the February 2018 Customer Kudos.

Melanie Maxfield Huscroft says here “we are in the process of becoming registered and certified as such but until the process is complete, all made statements need to be reviewed and approved.” Derek ‘Duh-rek’ Maxfield adds “I would say we do try to play it [cruelty-free status] up unofficially.”

2013, when they said this. Its now 2018…nothing has changed. Will it ever change? From what this Twitter user says, probably not.

Yes – in January 2017, Coty, Inc. announced they had purchased a 60% majority stake in Younique. A beauty products manufacturer operating in over 150 countries, one of Coty’s biggest brands is arguably American cosmetics company CoverGirl. As the above Twitter user has pointed out, these products “are not cruelty free or vegan.”

Still looking unlikely then. A company that’s happy to exploit, but not to pursue Leaping Bunny status.

On a lighter note, ‘Rose’ has found herself enlightened to “the weird world of multi-level marketing“. As I told her, it’s a minefield.

To get ‘Rose’ started on discovering more about this weird world, I recommended the following Twitter accounts (if you don’t follow them yet – now’s your chance).

Anti-MLM Coalition @AntiMLMwriters, Bot Watch @MLMBotWatch, Red Corvette @RedCorvette9, Emma @MLMshyster, Chris Pert @AcroTrekker, Ethan Vanderbuilt @ethanvanderbuilt, Jon Donnis @JonDonnis, MLM Exposed @MLMscheme, MLM Police @mlm_police, Unwash Your Brain @WisePyramid, and See You Next Tuesday Sir @worklifeblogger. That’s just to get you started.

Safe to say, ‘Rose’ has now joined us as part of the #AntiMLMmovement.

It’s good to know that there were other anti-MLMers giving us some appreciation (as well as this new parody account springing up by the name of @Poonique).

Younique Corporate didn’t appreciate any of that, though. Before I can say “Younique is Poonique”, I (and most of the anti-MLMers in that thread) find myself swiftly blocked.

Younique really don’t appreciate being called out on their cruelty-free dithering, do they? They forget that I am a member of the Anti-MLM Coalition, and therefore can post from that Twitter account.

So there we have it – that’s the saga of how I finally got blocked by @Younique_Corporate. 

We know your game, Poonique. You may take the easy way out by blocking the accounts of those who won’t stand for your bullcrap, but you don’t get off that easily. We all have alternative Twitter accounts, and we have an abundance of anti-MLM supporters who can see your ridiculous tweets and won’t stand for them. 

Either way – thank you for this badge of honour, Younique Corporate. It only took you a year, after all.

Stop brushing your presenters’ ridiculous claims under the rug, and actually dignify the cruelty-free status enquiries with something other than genetic copy/paste answers.

The amount of presenters claiming the products are “cruelty-free” and “vegan” IS getting out of hand. So much so, that this Younique presenter decided to retweet me – clearly some kind of auto-like bot software or TweetFull shizz going on I think.

As for me, I’m sure I’ll recover from this terrible tragedy soon.

If you spot @Younique_Corporate skirting around the cruelty-free issue on Twitter, please feel free to call them out on their nonsense. They’ll probably block you though.

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