Are people finally realizing that MLMs are a scam?

[Anonymous]

What's shocking is how many people got sucked into it. When I was 15 someone tried to scam me with MLM and then in again in college. I know that these are scams whats scary is how many people got sucked into it on my facebook feed -they were into selling Scentsy, Rodan + fields, Plexus...anyway most 99.9% of the people involved had no real education but HS. Only one had a college degree.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s cyclical. Something appears and then blows up spectacularly, and then things quiet for a while until people forget get and a new crop of suckers ripens. We just might be in the quiet phase right now.

[Anonymous]

Ugh, I caved and bought some Norwegian cleaning cloths from my sil’s recently divorced friend. I used a junk email address and made a typo on my phone number and hope never to hear from this company again. MLM’s are still alive and kicking!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you been on any crunchy mom fb groups? They are absolutely still knee deep in MLM sh*t.

This seems the opposite of a crunchy mom

The moms i know who were top producers (nationally) for BeautyCounter are now selling collagen or CBD “wellness” things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you been on any crunchy mom fb groups? They are absolutely still knee deep in MLM sh*t.

This seems the opposite of a crunchy mom

The moms i know who were top producers (nationally) for BeautyCounter are now selling collagen or CBD “wellness” things.

+1

[Anonymous]

The ones that I still see are

1.) some workout pyramid scheme. I have a friend who is always showing pics of her "amazing" results. She's recruiting people to do her workouts with her. I assume they pay some fitness company and she gets a cut.

2.) some "shake" diet. It gives everyone more energy than they've ever had.

3.) Still a little Beauty Counter and Rodan and Fields, but much less than a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know any educated people who got sucked into these? Most are just high school drop outs or uneducated stay a home moms. It's kind of sad really. Especially those sex toy ones. Just sad.

[Anonymous]

Agree on the workout MLM. Something about macros, and of course there are supplements.

My cousin is still heavily into Arbonne. She works a full time lab/science job, but those don't pay much, even with lots of education.

Influencing took over for the rest of the MLMs. The biggest sales women I know are now influencers. Reinventing marriage planning, working out, meal planning, pregnancy and parenting. It's over the top.

[Anonymous]

If you know relatively few broke people, you are exposed less. The only people I know who did it were SAHMs who couldn't really afford to SAH but were doing it anyway. Or could afford it but were really bored and not very smart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know any educated people who got sucked into these? Most are just high school drop outs or uneducated stay a home moms. It's kind of sad really. Especially those sex toy ones. Just sad.

Yes. I went to mit and someone I knew peripherally a class below was heavily into some sort of juice mlm.

If anyone you care about wants to get into it, see if they will agree to keep a spreadsheet to keep track of every expense and every hour spent. Perhaps they won’t believe you, but they will believe numbers. People are willing throw money away by ”donating” to YouTube and twitch and also on romance scams, so it’s not surprising that they can also get duped by mlm machines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know any educated people who got sucked into these? Most are just high school drop outs or uneducated stay a home moms. It's kind of sad really. Especially those sex toy ones. Just sad.

I know two people with college degrees who are Rodan & Fields boss babes. One of them was a nurse and one of them worked in finance. Both of them are relatively successful at it, which is grosser than failing at it in my opinion given how the whole scheme is about selling "opportunity" that is anything but.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Have you been on any crunchy mom fb groups? They are absolutely still knee deep in MLM sh*t.

This seems the opposite of a crunchy mom

Definitely not. They are all "did you know DAWN DISH SOAP is toxic?! DM me for alternatives" or whatever garbage. I dont pay much attention but I still see tons of them.

[Anonymous]

I think many people are finally realizing how cult-like + brainwashed MLMs are and have therefore began avoiding them altogether.

Names that have been around for awhile such as Tupperware, Avon & Mary Kay are even going down.

Plus I feel after the whole Chris/Shanaan Watts situation with Thrive, people are staying away altogether.

[Anonymous]

These pyramid scheme companies are nothing but scammers trying to sell dreams to vulnerable people (most especially Mothers of young children sadly).

They tempt these victims into actually believing that they have the potential to have it all.

All meaning >> time freedom, a free paid-for luxury vehicle, all-expense paid luxury exotic vacations + free products!

They dangle these things like one would dangle a carrot 🥕 in front of a bunny!

When people are vulnerable, desperate or both they are easily manipulated by this type of advertising.

In truth, only 1% of people ever succeed at direct sales.

Maybe because the items being marketed are very co$tly (much more so than stuff you can purchase in a regular store!)
Who wants to buy shampoo (Monat?), cosmetics (Avon/Mary Kay?), or even vitamins (Le•Vel/Thrive??) that are mediocre yet cost sometimes up to 4-5x from a store?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know any educated people who got sucked into these? Most are just high school drop outs or uneducated stay a home moms. It's kind of sad really. Especially those sex toy ones. Just sad.

Yes. I had a friend who was college educated and got sucked into Herbalife. She was going through a divorce at the time. She lost a bunch of weight and met these people at her gym. They prey on desperate, vulnerable people.