Direct selling is one means for some women to make a living. One challenge of the job, however, is collecting payment from buyers who are delinquent or, worse, disappear.
Nelia Muico, a direct seller of Natasha Lemery, has her own way of pressuring delinquent buyers to pay items of clothing ordered from her. After her customer Gengerie Comprendio of Barangay Yawyawan, Lemery, Iloilo paid her P200 as down payment for her P865 debt, with the promise to settle the balance after she finds work in Manila, Muico reportedly posted a tarpaulin outside the Natasha Lemery office bearing Comprendio’s photo.
Printed on the tarp is a message in Ilonggo, saying Comprendio owes Natasha Lemery and could not be contacted.
Comprendio was initially unaware of the tarp. After getting employed and recently sending the balance of her debt to Muico through a cash remittance outlet, she learned from relatives about the tarp that was still posted in Natasha Lemery and felt violated.
Muico’s debt collection method then backfired. Comprendio went to Senator Raffy Tulfo’s public service show and complained about the foul tarp. She turned the table on Muico as the show called for the taking down of the libelous tarp.
The video of the Raffy Tulfo in Action episode featuring Comprendio’s complaint went viral on YouTube.
In another case of public shaming that also went viral on social media, a woman resorted to a newspaper announcement.
The weekly Mackay and Whitsunday Life of Queensland, Australia published on its 12 August issue a whole page notice from an apparently jilted lover that reads:
Dear Steve,
I hope you’re happy with her now the whole town will know what a filthy cheater you are
From Jenny
A postscript below the “shouting” message reads: I bought this ad using your credit card.