Recently I got an invitation through Facebook to a launch party of my cousin’s (B’s) new at home business. However, when I clicked on the event I realized that it wasn’t a real party- it was a “Facebook” party. She wants people to get on Facebook at a certain time, will post games for them to play, and then they can browse her products online. It’s perfect, no real personal interaction or hospitality is required for her to profit!
Here are the party instructions. I like how she makes it sound so reasonable and convenient.
Hello everyone! I am a brand new Jamberry Consultant, and this is my official Facebook Launch Party! Mostly we are going to play games, and along the way I am going to introduce you to Jamberry Nails! Over the next two weeks I’ll be posting information about Jamberry, what is is all about, the reason behind the craze, photos, videos, and much more! Please feel free to message me if you would like a sample!
This Facebook launch party is great because you can do everything from the comfort of your home! Ordering is simple!
1. Check out my site.
2. Fill your cart with goodies!
3. Choose “B’s Jamberry Launch Party” upon checkout.It’s that simple! If at anytime you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask!
At least at a real product party, I can say hi to folks, actually see/try the products, and usually there’s good snacks. This is just tacky. 0901-14
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I’ve seen some burger chains have games on their website for nothing more than a bit of marketing.
This isn’t all that different, it’s just not presented all that well. I think if she’d held an online ‘games night’ without mention of the products and just had discrete branding on those games, it’d be much more effective and acceptable to those ‘invited’.
The one thing that does get my goat is the amount! of! exclamation! marks! in her invite. There are literally TWO sentences in her invite which don’t end in an exclamation mark.
I’ve seen this technique with Jamberry before as well! I think an online “party” is less potentially awkward/inconvenient than an invitation to a face-to-face party (I always turn down invitations to sales parties, and sometimes those conversations can be awkward) but think it’s equally rude. I understand that many people do a certain level of self-promotion on facebook (promoting their companies/events, soliciting charitable donations, advertising products they sell, etc.), and I accept that that’s the way the world is, but people posting about these things on their own pages is much less irritating to me than people directly contacting me about these things, via Facebook Event invites, private messages, or notes on my wall. If I don’t like what people post on their own pages, I can just block their pages from showing up in my newsfeed; if I don’t like the messages, activities (“Like my page!” notifications and such), and invitations they send me, I can only ask them to stop (awkward) or block them.
I think the reason I find the online parties tacky is because the hosted usually receives hostess rewards based on the sales from the party. So basically the hostess is receiving free product based on her friends purchases without doing any work or providing any hospitality.
This is wrong on many levels, but what really gets me is that she’s calling it a “party.” It’s not a party if everyone is just sitting at their computers in the privacy of their own homes! Calling it a party implies that she’s taking on the role of hostess, but really what she’s doing is hitting her friends up for money with minimal effort on her part.
I’m not a fan of actual product parties either, but at least in those cases you get food and time with friends in exchange for being pressured into buying things you don’t need.
When I lived in the countryside, I’d see signs posted near the mail box: No Solicitors Allowed. I hadn’t see it before so I asked and it was explained to me. There was one woman who had a ‘No religious solicitations allowed’ on her driveway (one year there was even a group of moonies who came trying to sell candy…).
Elections are ramping up and while I believe in freedom of speech and supporting your candidte, knocking at my door when the porchlight is out (in a big city) is taking it too far. I’m thinking of creating a sign to put on my front door: Political campaigning not welcome. Now if I could just stop the flow of junk mail…
But it could be nice to be able to put up a No Solicitations on a FB page…or maybe ‘This is a commerce-free zone. I won’t try to sell anything to you and I don’t want you to try to sell anything to me’.
Of course some people who haven’t learned the meaning of ‘no’ will send a message saying how funny that post is, and by the way…..
In an office, I would say the same thing another poster said, that I can’t support all so I will support none. If pushed, I’ll also say that I buy what I need in that line (candles, wrapping paper, candies) from the 99 cent store.
I think some people prefer FB because they haven’t developed good social skills and want to avoid problems interacting.
Gabriele, you CAN stop junk mail. Check out the Federal Trade Commission’s website on how to stop all kinds of junk mail. I did this years ago and I was surprised how much less seems to make it to my mailbox.
I’ve seen a powdercoat painted sign that says:
NO SOLICITING
We are too broke to buy anything
We know who we are voting for
We have found Jesus
(Seriously unless you are giving away free beer)
PLEASE GO AWAY!!
I want one.
Until I read all the comments, I thought Jamberry was a pseudonym for another company and the OP didn’t want to name the real one. I thought I had heard of almost all the product parties out there. Glad I hadn’t heard of this one.
I wouldn’t have a problem with this if she hadn’t called it a party! Ordering stuff at home is in no way, shape or form a party! Just delete the word “party” and call it “B’s Jamberry Launch”.
I actually think this is less rude than actual product “parties”.
This actually is rather convenient for someone like me who has problems interacting with people in person. Staying at home seems fine to me, I’d like to give this a go. Takes all the problems out for me while still giving me the ability to ‘interact’ on social media.
I tend to look at these types of “parties” as charity. If the person hosting is someone I would help out anyway I will go and buy some stuff, order from the catalog or online or whatever is called for.
I never feel guilty or upset about not donating to every single charity that solicits me, so I don’t really mind these types of invitations. They are easy to ignore.
It surprised me at first to see well-paid professionals hawking all this MLM junk in the office or in business networking groups. In one place people who never bothered to say “Hello” to me in person would group e-mail me to the latest MLM party.
Or others as thinly disguised charity – help pay my kids’ tuition, I had to give up a full-time job to care for my elderly parent, etc.
I’d prefer the online option myself-it’s no different than online shopping. You visit a website and either you buy or you don’t.
I avoid ordering MLM products no matter how well they really work. I love polishing my nails and have actually heard a lot about Jamberry but have avoided it for this very reason. It seems like once you place an order they will continually hound you. That’s also why I avoid these parties, online or otherwise.
When I first saw this I thought is the op a cousin of mine and I don’t know it? I also received an invitation like this a few days ago from a cousin of mine. I already declined the invite and I barely even know this cousin and only remember meeting her one time. She keeps posting on my page about it, but I’m just ignoring it, because it is the usual come buy my stuff posts. If she really knew me she would know I don’t do anything with my nails and I’m a tomboy so the frilly designs are not for me. I understand sending out 1 invite, but please do not continue to keep hounding me about it.
One of my FB firends has a clothes store and she will post photos of what she is selling. This is advertising but it’s not mainpulative or as in your face as this is.
What? I mean….what?!
Sorry to say I was invited to one of these just the other day.