to worry about my friend's obsession with Herbalife?

[Heatherland77]

A friend of mine has been using Herbalife teas and protein powders for about a year now through a local distributor. I thought nothing of it other than they were expensive and maybe it was a fad she'd get over.
But oh no. In the last month, she's gone all in, going to a local club three times a week and then announced she's becoming a wellness coach. I asked her what qualification she was taking to call herself a coach and didn't get a response. Then she left me a very odd voice message soft selling Herbalife, saying she wishes she'd known about it years ago, how it's transformed her life, how it can cure diabetes and relieve the menopause etc. Basically a full sales pitch trying to hook me in. She asked me if I'd like to come along to a session to be her guinea pig and find out my metabolic age on their scales etc. I declined politely on the basis that I've already quietly done some reading up on Herbalife, watched the documentary Betting on Zero, and am horrified that it's an aggressive MLM scheme.
This friend's Instagram is now photo after photo of her in little black dresses bragging about losing 13lbs and being back down to her pre baby weight etc. It's all positive delusional speak and Americanisms which is 100% not her at all. I'm worried she's been indoctrinated.
The worst thing however is that for the last three weeks she's read my messages but not replied. This is completely unlike her as she has always responded within a day, even when a parent passed away or her children have been unwell etc. I've now found out that one of Herbalife's tactics is to distance new distributors from friends who are skeptical, or who didn't sign up to a taster session because they could be a negative influence.
I've known this friend for twelve years, I consider her as close as a sister and I'm extremely worried, as well as confused and upset she'd do this.
Am I being unreasonable to worry about this?

She's going to lose a fuckton of money then give up and go back to whatever she was doing before. Afaik all you can do is distance yourself from the car crash and not encourage her by buying anything.

Unfortunately it’s the MLM structure to prey on the most vulnerable. Many are that desperate that they’ll be willing to do anything for a chance at success, my aunt and own siblings have been there.
In my experience no speaking to them will change anything, you have to let them experience the highs, lows, disbelief and regret themselves because the belief that this is genuine is so ingrained in them and they’re told to distance from anyone who tells them otherwise.

You can’t help, she’ll realise it herself in time. Know someone doing one of these travel agent MLM jobs and suddenly has gone quiet about it..,

Herbalife, like any other MLM is a masssuve scam full of charlatans and under qualified people telling others what to do
I often get messages from our overweight local Herbalife rep asking if she can help me work on my ‘goals’ despite knowing I’m a size 8 healthy gym goer.
Most of the people on it and selling it have convinced themselves (or have been convinced) that they are changing lives and that they have the knowledge to do so. You should see the conventions- they are so cult like and insane.
Herbalife has got a terrible reputation and success rate so they are now calling their hubs ‘ Newcastle nutrition’ or whatever
Sadly the only people making a decent income are those at he top of the pyramid. We have big Herbalife following here as one of the top folks live in my town… but nut a single person keeps the weight off.
Dont worry about your friend- she needs to find out for herself

Family member was totally blinded by an MLM (make up/skincare) - very cultish and just couldn’t be told and it was like a personality transplant with all the cold selling to anyone and everyone.

Blew over 10k chasing the dream I’d say before quietly stepping away and oddly just never mentioning it again - and avoiding the subject whenever mentioned…

Begin with an 'A' by any chance....?

Crikey, so I'm not making mountains out of molehills. She's been out of work since 2020 as a full time parent relying on hubbies income and she's been topping that up with her savings which will soon run out. If she's sunk her savings into this, hubby will be very upset. Nothing to do with me now but I'm very worried but as you say, she'll have to find all this out for herself.

I think people that get sucked into these kinds of MLM often feeling they are lacking in community and connection and they get sucked in for that side of things. There's likely nothing you can do but maybe just send a message to check in every now and then, so if she ever thinks about leaving she still has at least 1 non-MLM friend around

Do you know her husband well enough to raise with him?

Yeah these things are like a cult. I had a friend who sells Utility Warehouse and blocked me on social media after I refused a 'consultation ' I think he had to provide 100 contacts when he started, which is basically all family and friends.

Your friend is a grown woman and it's her decision, all you can do is sit back and wait for it to implode - and be a good friend when it does!

Currently watching my SIL throw thousands of pounds and hours of her time into this.

I actually introduced her to it; I went to one of their ‘breakfast clubs’ for a few weeks and invited her along.

Basically back when I was a newly qualified yoga teacher I went along because the ‘coach’ (ie Herbalife rep) offered me a teaching job, it was a pure con, I thought I was going for an interview and he made me sign up for his club first; then he overcharged me to sublet the premises from him for a weekly class (I could have paid half as much to rent it directly from the owner, seriously scammy behaviour).

They keep the name Herbalife quite quiet, it’s all ‘LocalTown Nutrition Club’ now.

Once I realised it was a pure MLM con (which took me a few months tbh as I was ignoring a lot of red flags myself) I tried to talk to her about it and she doubled down and stopped speaking to me. It’s a fucking cult. Two years on she is totally immersed and so is her husband (my DH’s brother).

I’m about to qualify as a PT and nutritionist, it’s my literal full time career now, but they won’t listen to anything I say because apparently X (the club leader) is the expert above all experts and I’m wrong and a hater or jealous etc. It’s actual cult tactics.

I do know him well enough. It's a case of finding time to speak to him as he works from home, my friend is usually at home if it's a non-nursery day and I'm out at work five days a week. Don't think he's susceptible to Herbalife tactics and is quite rational in judgement but the poor bloke is up to his eyeballs with work, keeping them afloat. Perfect storm.

Well-done to you for putting the hard work in and getting the qualifications! Wishing you a very successful career that really will help people live healthier lives.

Gosh I can’t believe herbal life is still a thing. I used to work with a bloke who gave up a secure career to pursue the herbal life dream. Safe to say it didn’t last long and he’s now back doing a normal job. It’s such a scam.

I met somewone who did the hard sell on me. I wasnt pleased and told her, she called me a negative person. Apparantly anyone whi challanges the script is a negative person.

A woman I know did this. Bombarded us with Monet posts, including really out of character things like videos of her showering using the products (she’s a married mother of 3 and I imagine her kids were mortified), and signed up family members and friends. Once the bubble presumably burst, she just never mentioned it again. I can’t believe she didn’t even do one explanation post to warn off others or apologise for encouraging others to lose money in a scam. Can’t look at her the same now.

She sounds great, I really think you should support her.

#bossbabe #ceoofmyownlife

There was a local group called NutritionXXXX and they were posting great weight loss results. I looked into it and realised that in all the photos, there were these massive shake bottles, and the background was full of HL products. I know somebody who was doing it and they are now running their own business doing it. They approached me and I politely said not interested.

As with any shake diet, as soon as you stop the weight piles back on again.

It is an awful aggressive MLM scheme. It was over 20 years ago when they conned gullible XH into parting with thousands of pounds buying stock. When he couldn't sell it, they bought it back at half price...

Your friend won't listen until they see it for themselves, they are obviously very gullible and have fallen for all the crap. You could have a word with her DH if you think he will listen and talk sensibly to her about it.

It's an MLM, read up on them and just let it be. She will fall back down to earth with a crash.
archive.ph/3C1q4

This sums it up, really 😂

It’s the 80s all over again. 😂 My neighbours 40 years ago did Herbalife. Every time I went to their house to play with their dc they made us all drink cups of aloe vera juice. They were bonkers and continued in every MLM known to man until they died a few years ago. Not the same one, because none of them ever made any money, though you would have thought getting in at the bottom of the pyramid would have done it. Just ignore her. It will go badly. But you don’t want to engage or buy anything.

I know someone who does this and it does seem quite culty and a very uncomfortable use of friends / family for business.

I am surprised it's still got such a presence still going post-Wegovy etc. as I presume their target market is people looking for fast weight loss rather than people generally invested in a healthy life style.

I watched the doccumentary Betting on Zero and people are still taken in. Yes its culty.

Herbalife is such an evil set up. It’s just a pyramid scheme hiding behind iffy diet products. Herbalife had some serious bad press after Betting on Zero and has come perilously close to being shut down by the FTC in the US. They paid a $200m fine and have had to restructure and demonstrate that 80% of their sales are to genuine customers outside the scheme, BUT there are no such requirements outside the US so they appear to be doubling down in the UK.

Here they have the toothless DSA rules. The DSA is a promotional organisation staffed by MLM bosses, for the gain of MLM. The fact that Herbalife has adopted a strategy of hiding itself behind “nutrition clubs” shows just how willing they are to mislead as part of their strategy. It’s the same with Forever Living who have had to close their MLM altogether in the US to swerve serious consequences for the lies they’ve been telling for decades. In the UK they are trying very hard to keep going and are free to do whatever it takes with very little chance of consequences. This is very bad news for people like your friend.

MLM is such a cult and you’re right OP that isolating people is part of it. They love bomb people, tell them they are visionary and destined for great things. They tell them that the critics and the doubters are sheep stuck in 9-5 jobs with no prospects and/or they’re envious because they have already failed in MLM or they are not brave enough to be an “entrepreneur”. Then they play to the sunk cost fallacy - success is just around the corner, don’t be a quitter. You’ve put in so much effort don’t give up now.
Then they make is scary to quit - people in the outside are against you. That might be starting to come true if someone has alienated everyone by trying to monitise them.

Whenever I’ve spoken to a journalist or researcher wanting to write/broadcast about MLM they always comment about how difficult it is to get people to talk, even off record, about their bad experience. The fact your friend has gone silent may indicate that she is beginning to realise it’s costing her more than she is making. Research in the US has shown that 99.6% of people entering MLM will lose money (when factoring in their expenses), the chances your friend is in the tiny percentage who turn a profit consistently is unlikely, especially now recruitment is stalling in the UK and MLM as an “industry” is not what it was. Let’s face it, it’s not about selling shakes, it’s about recruiting everyone she knows.

These things are indeed cults. They are like the Event Horizon of consumerism. It's really, horribly sinister, and escapees learn the hard way both financially and psychologically. Hate them with a passion. There's loads on YouTube that exposes them.

And now of course we have the same thing going on with digital and AI platforms. Grim. Utterly grim.