MLM Bot Watch 24 - Powered by Twunk's Yazoo: Tragicomic cultic wampum flogging scamalangadingdongs like Forever Living, Ariix, Herbalife, Younique, Juiceplus, LifeTreeWorld.

[stopfaffing]

New thread, links to follow...

The weight loss chat boards here have attracted a JP bot tonight. It's the best "diet" ever apparently 🙄. Reported poster so hopefully MNHQ bring down the banhammer.

Fantastic article Toobusy!

Maybe they genuinely cannot believe that you might actually just e a nice person who wants to stop people being conned.

I would also like to know who the hell would be paying you?

Yes. It's a sort of strange 'reductio ad dollarem'. (People tend to judge others' motivations through the filter of their own.)

Exactly Cozie - don't judge everyone by your own (poor) standards

By the way Toobusy if there is any cash going spare (from your payoff from Aldi - going back to an earlier attempt to derail) then I have a great business opportunity for you....

Oh Goodness. Please reassure me that it's not milkshake-related!

Spotted this on FB and thought you guys would enjoy - quite accurate isn't it? Minus a zillion huns and xs of course!

There's been some pretty big news in the US regarding Herbalife and a "settlement" agreed with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which is likely to reverberate around the world and impact on any other MLM companies in the US and worldwide. It's not my area of expertise but my reading of the reports so far is that they have had to cough up a lot of money to:

• "avoid being charged with operating a pyramid scheme and facing a forced shutdown" : source www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/07/15/federal-trade-commission-herbalife/87119208/

or

• "to avoid being labelled a pyramid scheme" : source www.bbc.com/news/business-36809702

Which to me (reading between the lines) means, that unless they do what they've been told - I.e. cough up the settlement and undergo a complete restructure then they ARE by default a pyramid scheme.

It's also interesting; and reported in the Guardian that Herbalife already employs one former FTC commissioner and is now looking to employ another : source www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jul/15/herbalife-ftc-fine-200-million-pyramid-scheme-label

Reading all three articles I've linked (and I'm sure there are others) there is a lot of implied "information" reading between the lines.

I don't believe that Herbalife as a "brand" is as well known in the UK and doesn't seem to have employed the same FB marketing techniques which brought many of us to these threads in the first place; but it's hopeful that things are starting to turn around.

I know there is far more analysis on mlmtheamericandreammadenightmare.blogspot.ae/2016/07/ftc-vs-herbalife-analysis.html

Maybe it's serendipity that removing one "block" might bring the whole "pyramid" (sorry - inverted funnel) crashing down.

There has also been a fair amount of publicity in Sweden regarding FL. Hopefully more information to follow.

CAM

On a slightly different note I was catching up on Celebrity Masterchef online (S11 E08) and something in J Osmond's final submission caught my spider senses as I'm sure it's something I'd posted about before (when he mentioned "health benefits" I was even more interested).

I was Googling as I couldn't remember the spelling "Asiobe/Asihebi" well something like that anyway. Nothing came up on that; but FL seems to be alive and well in Ghana:

www.emmahealthguild.com/2015/12/ghanas-challenge-on-nutrition.html

www.emmahealthguild.com/2015/11/aloe-vera-benefits-youtubeflv.html

www.emmahealthguild.com/2015/12/vitolize-for-women.html

CAM

If a particular market reaches saturation, you pretty well have have to move to the 'less-developed markets' and hope that you can find some with less aware consumers and regulators together with nice - broad but fairly unaware - friendship and kinship structures. If you wish to maintain momentum that is.

Some of the African and Asian countries might well prime targets in that regard.

might well be

Just received this. Are we surprised?

Good work Eau! Top investigative skills! Every time some LTW loon says 'Sky wouldn't put heir name to this if it was dodgy' we can show them that.

www.ftc.gov/news-events/audio-video/video/ftc-press-conference-herbalife

CAM

Wow. Thank you CAM. The first part of that - at least - should be compulsory viewing.

That video needs to be widely shared!!

Thanks cozie. Some guidance from a friend but then my own research based on that.

One of my Swedish friends has picked up the baton regarding FL over there where apparently it's getting a lot of honest publicity; although it was news to her and she hadn't heard of the brand but she's looking into it.

She's back here next month so I'll sit down with her and see what info can be gathered. I've sent her a few of the "MLM starter pack for beginners" links as if I suggest she reads 24 pages on here I can imagine her reaction ;)

It's still bugging me what the herb/vegetable/who knows what; that Jimmy Osmond was going on about in Masterchef was and I'll have to add trying to find my previous post to the 30+ list on my whiteboard.

I'm more annoyed that I was really enjoying watching MC (a "taste" of home) and really liking him but then "Mormon", "Utah", "health benefits" distracted me.

I'd drink some Yazoo but I've not found it here ;)

CAM

Spirituous liquor is what you need - or at least, stay away from the milkshake!

PS - if she has Internet, she's well placed to read all the literature and to join Mumsnet/post here.

Well I have tonic water now which is good (I declined gin and soda water last night, which was all DH could find, on the basis it was fucking horrible last time)

I'm off for some sleep as soon as my phone finishes charging until one of the maus decides at 2am that I need waking up because they're bored with locating and dissecting someone else's cushion filling into our garden which involved me frantically checking the childrens' soft toys at 4am to ascertain whether they'd been attacked.

I think I need my own camel....

CAM

no comment needed

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/18/michelle-van-etten-republican-convention-youngevity?CMP=twt_gu

Oh and can someone please post up what the fuck it was from Masterchef? I'm going to have mad dream-mares of it, and cushion filling, and probably our aloe vera plants breaking their way into the place and attacking me in the night along the lines of Little Shop of Horrors.

You'll be giving me a decent night of sleep (much needed) and maus and camels will come your way (if you want them...)

CAM

Lordy. I forgot where you are as well!

(And gin and soda water is vile. If push comes to etc, try some neat gin on ice.)

I noticed many things that the Head of the FTC said, by the way. Quite a few are worthy of future general quotes.

Out of interest, does anyone know if anyone has been proposed for the new Independent Compliance Auditor post yet?

That's a great video, CAM. I noticed that, despite being pressed a number of times by different people during the questioning session at the end, the speaker refused to admit in any way that Herbalife was a 'pyramid scheme'.

She did however state in answer to this question (at about 25 mins 20 seconds in) "Did you review the language in their press release .... that said that they were not declared a pyramid scheme, because they are counting that as an outright victory?"

Her answer "I do not agree with that statement, the word 'pyramid' does not appear on our complaint that is true, but the core facts that we have alleged we consider to be problematic with their compensation structure are set forth in detail in our complaint and again I will leave readers to draw their own conclusions but they were not determined not to be a pyramid (scheme), that would be inaccurate". (my emphasis)

So it looks like a deal was done by which Herbalife agreed to compensate to a tune of $200 million (US citizens only) on condition that they were not deemed officially a pyramid scheme. That's my conclusion, anyway.