musicalhell:

absynthe–minded:

marzipanandminutiae:

humandisastersquad:

shulgirlstudies:

thecaroliner:

shulgirlstudies:

It’s genuinely concerning to me that multilevel marketing companies aren’t treated as a mainstream, pressing issue like they should be. I’ve seen so many women (men on rare occasions) scammed by them because nobody teaches them how to identify pyramid schemes. So, I’ve decided to compile a list of common themes I’ve taken note of in my Facebook feed that originate from the girls in MLMs (the ones I’ve seen so far are Plexus, Young Living, Monat, and ItWorks) as well as themes I’ve found in my own research  in case any of you come across it and are asked to buy or join:

1.) You’ll often see long Facebook posts from a person involved that make excessive use of emojis (this point might sound silly but it’s very, very relevant). The Facebook posts originating from this person are almost never sad and never delve into their mental health because they simply aren’t allowed to act that way. The posts need to be cheery because they’re often forced into making a positive representation of the MLM they work for. “How can you be sad when you’re working for a company as amazing as Plexus?”

2.) The posts they make will more often focus on the money to be made working for the company, rather than the products you’ll be selling. MLMs have a habit of preying on people who are struggling financially, most notably college students, single mothers and military wives. I myself have been approached by representatives from Plexus and ItWorks with the promise of making more money. “Do you want financial freedom? Do you want to be able quit your 9-5 job and stay home with your kids?’

3. When you join, you’ll likely have to buy some sort of “starter kit” as a fee for joining (for reference, NO LEGITIMATE BUSINESS will ask you to make any form of payment when signing up to work. If they do, it’s more than likely a scam).

4. You’ll likely have something called an “upline” who benefit from your sales and the sales of people below you. Before pyramid schemes were criminalized, their practices were the same, and the ONLY difference with MLMs is the involvement of a product/products: the only way for a new recruit to turn any sort of profit is by recruiting more people to sell, forming a “downline”. The more people you recruit and the more people your recruits recruit, the more money you make. However, the people at the bottom of the line will always face the same situation of not turning a profit. The only way to escape this, again, is to get people to join below you, and the cycle repeats itself.

5. You may get messages from people involved in MLMs that either undermine or boost your confidence as a selling point for their products, things like, “Hey girl! I’m so happy for you and congratulations on your new baby. Are you looking to lose your baby weight? ItWorks has some amazing products that I think you should try.” (Yes, this was a real message that a friend of mine got). You’ll get stuff from people you used to attend high school with that haven’t spoken to you in years.

6. When someone you know involved in an MLM makes a post about it, check the profiles of people who make positive and encouraging comments. The majority (if not all of them) are also ambassadors for the same MLM. Whereas you would expect ordinary people to find the post uninteresting and ignore it, these people will leave feedback in order to give the impression that the person involved is doing well and finding success.

7. If the MLM is health/nutrition/supplement based, the person will all of a sudden become an anatomy and health expert. They may post some gross pictures and discuss them in detail, or start talking about the science behind losing weight and getting in shape (and sometimes these posts are excruciatingly long) in order to give the products they sell an aura of scientific legitimacy. However, I have yet to see a post that scientifically explains what the products created by these MLMs do to help people. (This point wouldn’t apply to jewelry or clothing MLMs like LulaRoe). 

If you guys have any points to add, please let me know what I’m missing. I’m sure there’s a lot. We need to teach young people just leaving high school and entering college what to look out for so they aren’t at risk of being scammed into losing all of their hard earned money.

Nothing to add here except a list of companies that are MLMs that everyone should avoid:

- Young Living

- doTerra

- Lula Roe

- Paparazzi

- Thrive (not the cosmetics)

- It Works

- Arbonne

- Pure Romance

- Scentsy

- Rodan and Fields

- Beach Body

- Plexus

- Monat

These are just the ones off the top of my head.

Reblogging for my followers to see. There are so many more but I see these ones most often on Facebook.

The Checkout did a good segment on MLMs a few years ago that explains how they work and also some common ones to look out for (it’s Australian but the info applies across the board). Seriously, these things are major scams, and if you know anyone who has bought into them, show them this video and/or other resources to help talk them out of it.

Adding Amway to the list. It’s an oldie and a serious baddie. My housemate is involved with them and I’ve gotten a front-row seat to the cult mindset, brainwashing, emotional abuse, and general money-flushing involved. Their intentionally deceptively-named product lines include:

- Artistry

- Nutrilite

- Nutriway

- Glister

- Satinique

- Hymn

- Body Series

- XL and XS energy drinks

- Dish Drops

-SA8 (home cleaning product)

- LOC (also a home cleaning product)

- Legacy of Clean

- Moiskin

- eSpring

- Atmosphere

- iCook

Here’s a Last Week Tonight segment on MLMs, complete with a Spanish version that I’ve shared just below here. These are freely available on YouTube; share them all you like.

I’d like to add some travel MLMs, which are awful not only for the reasons listed above but because they’re really bad at training recruits, which reflects badly on legitimate agents:

~Inteletravel

~Paycation

~WorldVentures

~Travelution

(via justemotionalabusesurvivorthings)