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MLM bot watch - Continued discussion of the network marketing companies Forever Living, Herbal Life, Juice Plus etc as a pyramid scheme or scam

999 replies

CheekySmile · 22/12/2015 19:58

Still continuing the discussion of the various network marketing schemes or multi-level marketing schemes (MLMs) that people we know are involved in.

If you have an MLM bot of your own then join us and share their claims and content.

Or if you are researching a company before signing up to be a network marketer please take a look at the previous threads here and here and also this thread which delves deeper into the workings of MLMs.

And don't forget our very own MN MLM Timeless Vie!
www.facebook.com/timelessvie
www.twitter.com/timelessvie
www.timelessvie.wordpress.com

OP posts:
Thread gallery
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lastuseraccount123 · 07/01/2016 21:27

roseform welcome to the club, I really don't think eyes meant to be patronizing. it's often hard to read tone on forums like this Grin

lastuseraccount123 · 07/01/2016 21:29

we've also talked in threads further back about how mlms manage to fool so many otherwise intelligent, well-educated people. can't be arsed digging them up but if you have the time, they're worth a read.

lastuseraccount123 · 07/01/2016 21:37

and most of us have been sucked in at one time or another, so there's that too.

Purplelilly · 07/01/2016 21:40

Eyespying I would expect academics working in the fields of consumer psychology, business (in particular business ethics), organisational behaviour, management, marketing etc. would be well equiped to investigate MLM.

MLM is a complex phenomena to investigate, but that is exactly what academics do every day. Conducting research into MLM isn't any more of a challenge than so many other phenomena being investigated. I think that the skills aquired by academics is sufficient enough to tackle this important issue. There is so much opinion out there, there needs to be more reliable, rigorous and objective study into it.

You've said that you aren't aware of traditional academics (I'm not sure exactly what is meant by that term) have really investigated MLM. I've found that there are many studies into various aspects of MLM, some of which is published in high ranking journals. What is a big positive is that there continues to be academic interest in MLM, so the phenomena is being explored in more depth as time goes on. Sadly academic investigation can only provide a greater depth of understanding of the issues associated with MLM. There has to be greater mainstream interest for this academic research to have impact and prompt change. It's good to see so many people involved in bringing the issues to people's attention.

Perhaps this type of discussion is better suited to the other MLM thread as it's not very light hearted :) I've been through most of the other thread and this, I'm happy to see it getting so much attention!

CheekySmile · 07/01/2016 21:41

stopfaffing That's a great idea, I'll post the video on TVs FB page tomorrow.

OP posts:
acatcalledjohn · 07/01/2016 21:44

They spelling of ketones as keytones is getting on my tits. And I'm sure the three plans extract bullet point really mentions four.

Also, my bot needn't have bothered with the goals. She won't reach them. I would assume one of them is #sacktheboss, another would be #getonthepropertyladder. The third I can't think of.

Incidentally: I'd love to be a fly on the wall during a mortgage advisor meeting. I bet you plenty of bots try it on...

MLM bot watch - Continued discussion of the network marketing companies Forever Living, Herbal Life, Juice Plus etc as a pyramid scheme or scam
MLM bot watch - Continued discussion of the network marketing companies Forever Living, Herbal Life, Juice Plus etc as a pyramid scheme or scam
Roseformeplease · 07/01/2016 21:47

Not sucked in. Interested and finding it more and more amongst people I know. At my age, however, I am not used to being patted on the head when I attempt to engage.

lastuseraccount123 · 07/01/2016 21:53

hahaha @ thermogenic. tooo. muuuch.

oh FL, you never let me down with your pseudosicency bullshite.

lastuseraccount123 · 07/01/2016 21:57

i think timeless vie should have a new product that cryogenically removes toxins and fats from your cells. then you wee them out in tiny tiny ice crystals that cant' be seen with the naked eye.

we could call it CRY

Eyespying · 07/01/2016 22:05

Roseformeplease

I certainly did not intend to be rude and patronizing, I was actually showing you respect by telling you the truth.

You must admit that your comment seemed to imply the reverse of what you now say you meant, i.e. that 'you used the terms " economists" and "clever people" without irony to show your admiration for the work and intelligence, and sheer bloody mindedness shown by those investigating it.

So by 'ecomomists' and 'clever people,' you mean the members of this forum (including myself)?

Perhaps I didn't read it correctly, but you seemed to be asking members of the forum (including myself) where to go on the Net to find qualified experts (particularly economists) whose work could convince the particular people you know, that 'MLM' is a fraud?

Thus, I replied, that as far as I know, there are are no independent academics who have investigated the 'MLM' phenomenon, in the same way that there are virtually no independent academics who have investigated the rest of the cult phenomenon. There are however, a significant number of academics who have been co-opted by cults (including ecomomists by 'MLM' cults).

My identity is no secret on this forum.

Obviously, I'm David Brear the author of 'MLM The American Dream Made Nightmare' and 'The Universal Identifying Characteristics of a Cult.'

mlmtheamericandreammadenightmare.blogspot.fr/2013/02/forever-living-products-flp-is-mlm.html

My point was, and is, that there are is no single academic qualification which would enable anyone to investigate thoroughly the 'MLM' phenomenon, because there are so many different aspects of it.

Toobusytowee · 07/01/2016 22:08

Acatcalledjohn- number three is probably #JackInForeverAndGetAJob

sminkypink · 07/01/2016 22:20

So the keytones thing has a load of caffeine in it. #wellwhoknew

There is someone on the FL Facebook page complaining that the Clean nine is making her vomit continually. They miss out the really minging side affects don't they?

There is also someone else trying to prescribe aloe for a fitting dog. Speechless. Seeing as aloe can make dogs ill (regardless of what FL say), that's really gonna help isn't it?

Eyespying · 07/01/2016 22:23

'I would expect academics working in the fields of consumer psychology, business (in particular business ethics), organisational behaviour, management, marketing etc. would be well equiped to investigate MLM.'

Purplelilly Probably the people best equipped to see beyond all the thought-stopping the 'MLM' bullshit are professional stage hypnotists and illusionists. To date, almost everything which has been written on the subject of 'MLM' by academics hasn't even begun to identify the underlying nature of the problem, which is as follows

More than half a century of quantifiable evidence, proves beyond all reasonable doubt that what has become popularly known as 'Multi-Level Marketing' is nothing more than an absurd, cultic, economic pseudo-science, and that the impressive-sounding made-up term 'MLM,' is, therefore, part of an extensive, thought-stopping, non-traditional jargon which has been developed, and constantly-repeated, by the instigators, and associates, of various, copy-cat, major, and minor, ongoing organized crime groups (hiding behind labyrinths of legally-registered corporate structures) to shut-down the critical, and evaluative, faculties of victims, and of casual observers, in order to perpetrate, and dissimulate, a series of blame-the-victim closed-market swindles or pyramid scams (dressed up as 'legitimate direct selling income opportunites'), and related advance-fee frauds (dressed up as 'legitimate training and motivation, self-betterment, programs, recruitment leads, lead generation systems,' etc.).

Roseformeplease · 07/01/2016 22:37

Yes. I meant you experts.

And I am bowing out. The teacher in me is itching to carry on and explain a few things to you about tone and the effect of rhetorical questions but I will leave you to chat amongst yourselves.

Roseformeplease · 07/01/2016 22:37

Yes. I meant you experts.

And I am bowing out. The teacher in me is itching to carry on and explain a few things to you about tone and the effect of rhetorical questions but I will leave you to chat amongst yourselves.

Roseformeplease · 07/01/2016 22:37

Posting fail. Think of it as a bow......and then an encore.

Eyespying · 07/01/2016 22:39

Purplelilly - In 2001, newly-elected President George W. Bush appointed one of the 'Amway' mob's own attorneys, Timothy Muris, as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. Muris then just happened to appoint David Scheffman as the FTC's new Chief Economist (a post which Scheffman had previously held 1985-1988).

In 2000, Scheffman had enthusiastically represented a gang of blame-the victim 'MLM income opportunity' racketeers hiding behind a fake 'direct selling' company known as 'Equinox International.' Scheffman had appeared in court and steadfastly pretended that 'Equinox' was not a pyramid scheme, insisting that his expert opinion was based on the fact that 'Equinox' was a regulated-member of the 'Direct Selling Association' and operated exactly like 'Amway.'

www.freedomofmind.com/Info/infoDet.php?id=485

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equinox_(MLM)

Despite Scheffman's jargon-laced lies, the FTC eventually succeeded in closing the 'Equinox' racket and recovering $50 millions for victims, but prosecutors had estimated that at least $330 millions had been taken from the public.

Amazingly, Scheffman, a de facto agent of criminals, remained hiding in plain sight at the FTC's Bureau of Economics for two years, 2001-2003, during which time, Orwellian modifications were made to the federal government's policy towards pyramid schemes dressed up as 'MLM/Direct selling income opportunities.' In short, the FTC steadfastly pretended to be protecting America's consumers, whilst a number of its senior agents began to protect 'MLM' racketeers to the detriment of the public.

clarinsgirl · 07/01/2016 22:47

Thermogenic hahahaha. Love the CRY idea. I'm laughing but this really isn't funny. Fuckers.

lastuseraccount123 · 07/01/2016 23:09

total fuckers.

DON'T JUDGE ME

MLM bot watch - Continued discussion of the network marketing companies Forever Living, Herbal Life, Juice Plus etc as a pyramid scheme or scam
Eyespying · 07/01/2016 23:19

Roseformeplease - Please don't bow out. I apologise for taking a lofty tone at the mention of economists, but if you read my last comment, you will perhaps see why I did.

Also, keep in mind that I have spoken at length to one much-vaunted FTC economist (whom I won't name on this forum) who has published reams on the subject 'MLM,' and who freely admits in private that groups like 'Herbalife' and 'FLP' are cults, but who insists that he is unqualified to say anything in public on the subject of cults.

Toobusytowee · 07/01/2016 23:21

Eyespying, can you give any advice to us as to how we should deal with our friends and family who have been sucked in by these MLMs?

We can use humour and awareness raising to try and prevent future victims but what can we do about people who are already in deep? It would be brilliant if we could return some of them to normality.

Ex bots, what made you leave? What would have been the right/wrong thing to say to you when you were really believing MLMs were a great prospect?

clarinsgirl · 07/01/2016 23:40

What fresh hell is this? A shake that prevents muscle loss WTF?

Exciting times!!
Who on my friends list is struggling to loose weight?

I may have a solution for you 🙏🏽
#shevsNucraze is open for business 👍🏽
Pop over X

#weightloss #diets #fitness #beachbody #getinshape #summerbod #bikinibod

clarinsgirl · 07/01/2016 23:41

Lastuser GrinExcellent

sminkypink · 08/01/2016 00:20

Yup, so funny!