Multi-level Marketing scams MLM

[Dachsie]

Here is a two minute trailer for a new full lenth film, Betting On Zero, that is about to come out about MLM schemes,

https://trailers.apple.com/trailers/...m_medium=email

Hope that link works.

focused mainly on HerbalLife in the film, but applies universally to all MLMs. Right now I am thinking about those supplements sold by Ben Fuchs and that Tangy Tangerine stuff, which curiously I don't hear anything about much anymore, and essential oils selling, which seems like another scam.

IMO, ANY and ALL PRODUCTS that are sold via this multi level method are a ripoff of the expendable people at the bottom by the people at the top. The products become superfluous and you won't really find a generally good product for a reasonable price sold this way. You may find a few high quality products but sold at exorbitant prices, and you will find a sea of low-quality mediocre products that are overpriced. All of the products seem to fall out of the picture, like Tangy Tangerine, after the initial marketing hype. A product has a marketing life but really good products sold at reasonable prices and not sold via MLM stay profitable and on the market for years.

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This may open a little discussion in general about pitfalls of MLMs here but maybe everybody here already is wised up on this subject. I just think educating people about this is important because people who are experiencing financial difficulties are the prime targets of this scheme and are the most hurt by being ripped off, and there are more and more people who are in dire financial straights these days.

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I remember years ago going to a presentation about some kind of thing sold that way and the guy was a really performer and entertainer and was really able to draw in and play on the worst weaknesses in humans.

I also would comment that in that video trailer of that huge audicence being given the treatment, it looks just like those huge audiences I used to see years ago on the "best preachers" on the Trinity Broadcasting Network years ago when I had cable and watched TV.

The speech is the same kind of psychological manipulation that Alex Jones and Dr. Group often employ about their super products.

[mamboni]

IMHO Tangy Tangerine and Youngevity products are top shelf and excellent. Dr. Joel Wallach is in my opinion the greatest living naturopathic physician and nutritionist. However, Youngevity is structured as MLM. I buy their products but do not participate as a dealer or MLM. Nevertheless, the formulations are extremely well balanced and complete. They are pricey but you get what you pay for. Compared to what we spend on insurances, the cost of supplementation is trivial and the price of not supplementing can be very high indeed.

[Dachsie]

Thank you for your comments, mamboni.

I definitely think supplementation is important and I take several. I know quality is important but I just think there are powdered drink supplements that are of equal quality and still priced considerably less. I personally do not like the idea of swigging on a fruit flavored drink throughout the day. In fact, I have trained myself to almost only drink water and milk. I have to drink a milk smoothie drink most mornings in order to wash down about 35 pills and am trying to get number of pills down to ones I really feel I am getting noticeable help from.

Robert Fitzpatrick who runs the Pyramid Alerts and
FalseProfits.com websites and has done many years of research and work on pyramind MLM sent me this in an email when I asked him about Youngevity...

"Thanks so much for your note. I am very happy some of our materials were useful to you.

Regarding Youngevity… This is just another of almost countless schemes based on (1) some health product not available in stores and which is classified as a food supplement so it is not regulated or tested by the Food and Drug Administration (2) joining, paying a fee, buying the product, and also paying monthly fees for internet services to track the program (3) recruiting others to do the same (4) a pyramid pay plan with a formula that ends up transferring the money from newest recruits to the top of the pyramid (the guys that founded the scheme).

Nothing new or different here. It may be that this one is being touted by people you rely on or trust. Sadly, this is true for most such schemes. They are very profitable for people at the top, but ruinous for all others, a money trap.

For more information on how to understand this and all other similar schemes, I suggest you review the resources, "What About This One?""


there is a big discussion on Amazon, a place I do patronize or go to anymore, about Tangy Tangerine. TT has some elements in it that sound a lot like radioactive isotopes and "rare earth" stuff.

I think Ben Fuchs conveys some very good health information and it was his advice to try taking glutamine after every meal that really helped me clear up my leaky gut / hives problem with almost all but a few foods.

I think Dr. Wallach, a vet and nutrional expert, employs snake oil sales tactics. There is a video on YT where he is speaking to a big gathering of black people at their big church and he is really working that audience, telling them to be sure to eat six eggs a day and making sure to tell them how Youngevity supplements really rev up their sex lives. When Ben Fuchs makes visits to my town, he always has his presentations at some large dispensationalist churches.

Also, again it looks to me like Dr. Wallach and Dr. Glidden and a whole bunch of the GCNlive hosts who were heavily promoting Youngevity are now off the scene or just having their own line of supplements, like Alex Jones, that they sell directly theirselves.

[mamboni]

Thank you for your comments, mamboni.

I definitely think supplementation is important and I take several. I know quality is important but I just think there are powdered drink supplements that are of equal quality and still priced considerably less. I personally do not like the idea of swigging on a fruit flavored drink throughout the day. In fact, I have trained myself to almost only drink water and milk. I have to drink a milk smoothie drink most mornings in order to wash down about 35 pills and am trying to get number of pills down to ones I really feel I am getting noticeable help from.

Robert Fitzpatrick who runs the Pyramid Alerts and
FalseProfits.com websites and has done many years of research and work on pyramind MLM sent me this in an email when I asked him about Youngevity...

"Thanks so much for your note. I am very happy some of our materials were useful to you.

Regarding Youngevity… This is just another of almost countless schemes based on (1) some health product not available in stores and which is classified as a food supplement so it is not regulated or tested by the Food and Drug Administration (2) joining, paying a fee, buying the product, and also paying monthly fees for internet services to track the program (3) recruiting others to do the same (4) a pyramid pay plan with a formula that ends up transferring the money from newest recruits to the top of the pyramid (the guys that founded the scheme).

Nothing new or different here. It may be that this one is being touted by people you rely on or trust. Sadly, this is true for most such schemes. They are very profitable for people at the top, but ruinous for all others, a money trap.

For more information on how to understand this and all other similar schemes, I suggest you review the resources, "What About This One?""


there is a big discussion on Amazon, a place I do patronize or go to anymore, about Tangy Tangerine. TT has some elements in it that sound a lot like radioactive isotopes and "rare earth" stuff.

I think Ben Fuchs conveys some very good health information and it was his advice to try taking glutamine after every meal that really helped me clear up my leaky gut / hives problem with almost all but a few foods.

I think Dr. Wallach, a vet and nutrional expert, employs snake oil sales tactics. There is a video on YT where he is speaking to a big gathering of black people at their big church and he is really working that audience, telling them to be sure to eat six eggs a day and making sure to tell them how Youngevity supplements really rev up their sex lives. When Ben Fuchs makes visits to my town, he always has his presentations at some large dispensationalist churches.

Also, again it looks to me like Dr. Wallach and Dr. Glidden and a whole bunch of the GCNlive hosts who were heavily promoting Youngevity are now off the scene or just having their own line of supplements, like Alex Jones, that they sell directly theirselves.

MLM is a pyramid scheme of course. Wallach opted for this because it was the quickest and cheapest way to disperse his products to the widest audience. It might not have been the best option. Wallach has separated himself from Youngevity and derives no profits from sales. I for one DO NOT believe that Dr. Wallach is a snake oil saleman in it for profit. And his thesis, that virtually all diseases are secondary to mineral and vitamin deficiencies, is sound and based on far better science than any pharmaceuticals outside of antibiotics. I supplement with the "90 essential nutrients" per Wallach because I believe that he is correct. Howver, I think Dr. Peskin's conclusion that there are only two essential fatty acids, not three as per Wallach, is correct and I don't use Youngevity fatty acids. Rather, I prefer nuts and seeds or Peskin's PEO caps. While I have been supplementing on and off for over 30 years, my personal results using the BTT and Rebound Fx with Fulvic minerals added have been outstanding. I have never been in better health, am on no prescription, have perfect weight and feel very good. My plan is to live to at least 120 years and never need to see a medical doctor.

[Dachsie]

"I supplement with the "90 essential nutrients" per Wallach because I believe that he is correct."

The last time I listened to Dr. Wallach it was about a year ago and it was on one of his regular radio programs but do not know what if any network that is on now. Very surprised he is not with Youngevity anymore. Don't think Dr. Glidden is either. Wonder who is the head of Youngevity now. Maybe Ben Fuchs.

Anyway, he would listen to the caller's health complaint / symptoms and start "prescribing" not only the "mighty 90" but one expensive pack of Youngevity products after another. One day I just wrote down all that he "prescribed" for one caller and then went to his website and priced them and it came to like $85 a month.

When I listened to his smooth sales pitch I almost was tempted to shell out some bucks right then and there for the products, but my state of poverty saved me. I no longer listen to any radio show guests selling any kind of supplements. I have taken in all the knowledge about that I can deal with and do not want to get sucked in to buying anymore items. I have purchased many products and books over the years that I never saw any appreciable help from so all that was a waste of money I cannot afford.

I have been fairly healthy and have not had a cold or the flu for over four years. I am narrowing it down to a smaller number of items and I know which ones I need to make sure I buy highest quality of. Would like some good oil pills but most of ones I can afford come from fish oil from Pacific Fukushima fish. Was going to try to find some good Norwegian krill oil but that's getting close to Chernobyl.

Guess I am getting off topic but supplements and good recommendations would be a good separate thread.

[mamboni]

"I supplement with the "90 essential nutrients" per Wallach because I believe that he is correct."

The last time I listened to Dr. Wallach it was about a year ago and it was on one of his regular radio programs but do not know what if any network that is on now. Very surprised he is not with Youngevity anymore. Don't think Dr. Glidden is either. Wonder who is the head of Youngevity now. Maybe Ben Fuchs.

Anyway, he would listen to the caller's health complaint / symptoms and start "prescribing" not only the "mighty 90" but one expensive pack of Youngevity products after another. One day I just wrote down all that he "prescribed" for one caller and then went to his website and priced them and it came to like $85 a month.

When I listened to his smooth sales pitch I almost was tempted to shell out some bucks right then and there for the products, but my state of poverty saved me. I no longer listen to any radio show guests selling any kind of supplements. I have taken in all the knowledge about that I can deal with and do not want to get sucked in to buying anymore items. I have purchased many products and books over the years that I never saw any appreciable help from so all that was a waste of money I cannot afford.

I have been fairly healthy and have not had a cold or the flu for over four years. I am narrowing it down to a smaller number of items and I know which ones I need to make sure I buy highest quality of. Would like some good oil pills but most of ones I can afford come from fish oil from Pacific Fukushima fish. Was going to try to find some good Norwegian krill oil but that's getting close to Chernobyl.

Guess I am getting off topic but supplements and good recommendations would be a good separate thread.

When one's budget is tight supplementation can be challenging. But you must obtain the 60+ essential minerals to hope to achieve optimal health. The most economical means is through a Fulvic minerals concentrate. A very inexpensive and superior source of all B vitamins is Brewer's yeast. Obtain EFAs and fat soluble vitamins from nuts and vegetables. You're done for maybe $40-60 per month.

[steel_ag]

Employees in the US that do not operate a home-based business are committing financial suicide.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9w...0BlHSkGGC4V2dw

[Jewboo]

Brewer's yeast does not contain vitamin B12, an essential vitamin found in meat and dairy products.

[Hitch]

I've made some extra coins to add to the prep stash, buying and selling herbalife over the past couple of years. Buy low, sell high, buy low again. It was actually fairly predictable, up until a couple months ago.

The video in the OP makes me want to opt out completely though.

[mamboni]

Brewer's yeast does not contain vitamin B12, an essential vitamin found in meat and dairy products.

Oops. That's right. B-12 the only one you have to get from animal products.