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My obsession with multilevel marketing started when people from various corners of my life—former coworkers and classmates and friends of friends—started raving about the skincare/leggings/diet shakes/essential oils that CHANGED THEIR LIFE on social media.
My reaction was…really?! (WTF?)
Maybe you haven’t read as much about multilevel marketing as I have (most normal people have not), so let me give you the very, very quick version.
Chances are, you have a cousin who sells zany leggings or a former classmate who hawks makeup. Multilevel marketing companies (MLMs) are serious business. According to the Direct Selling Association, a lobbying group for MLMs, the industry sold $35.4 billion of retail goods in 2018 in the US.
One of the selling points is that they’re not pyramid schemes, as pyramid schemes are illegal. (This seems to be a common MLM FAQ point. Question: are you a pyramid scheme? Answer: no way, pyramid schemes are against the law.)
MLMs are conspicuously pyramid-shaped though. Members peddle makeup or purses or even “wellness coaching.” They make a small cut of the products they sell, but the real money comes from recruiting new distributors. The recruits are the distributor's "downline,” and participants are paid a percentage of their downline’s sales. If your downline has a downline has a downline, the money really adds up. The people at the top rake it in.
But the vast majority…don’t. According to a report by the Federal Trade Commission, 99 percent (!!) of representatives lose money from MLM companies. You might recognize names like Herbalife, Avon, Mary Kay, and Amway. Or Rodan + Fields, doTERRA, LuLaRoe, Young Living, Younique, and Monat. MLMs have been around, and preying on women, for quite a long time. Men are involved with MLMs, too, but over three quarters of participants are women.
What the companies are really selling is much bigger than eye shadow or workout clothes. They’re selling a promise. There are no barriers to entry, no degree or training requirements, just the $99 or $449 or $1299 you need to purchase a starter kit and start selling. They prey on people who don’t feel like they have many options, which is one reason they’ve flourished during the pandemic. Maybe you’re busy raising kids or stuck in a going-nowhere job that’s sucking your soul straight out of their body.
That starter kit is going to buy you a whole new life. A chance to work for yourself and be a #bossbabe. Freedom. You can work from home, while your kid is napping, on your own terns. There’s a built-in community of other women rooting for you. #Girlboss! Maybe you’ll get the pink Cadillac or the chance to win a trip to the Bahamas. All it takes is old-school hard work and a positive mindset. #Dreambig!
The MLM story touches on so many things that I find deeply fascinating—this very American idea of bootstrapping, pop/positive psychology, the patriarchy, social media, access, capitalism, the ideas of wellness and self-improvement, community, and people’s sense of place in the world. It makes my inner socio-cultural anthropology major very, very happy.
One woman I talked to, who kept leaving and returning to an essential oil MLM “like an awful boyfriend,” told me she loved the encouragement she got as part of the group. “When you make a presentation at work, somebody might say good job, but mostly nobody says anything,” she said. “But when you do any little thing with MLM X, like post something on Insta, everyone is cheering you on and that feels really great.”
I don’t want to judge anyone who has been involved in these companies. Another reason I’m so intrigued is that there’s a part of me that totally sees the appeal, that would want to be part of a community of women selling something they believe in, building better lives together. A bigger part of me is a skeptic, which is a good thing, in this case anyway.
If you are into this like me and haven’t listened to The Dream podcast Season 1, I highly recommend it.
If you have been recruited or almost recruited, if you have sold these products or are currently involved, I’d love to hear your story. I’m working on a bigger project about multilevel marketing, and I’m interviewing as many people as possible. I’d love to talk with you!
PS Extra juicy: another one of my obsessions is cults, especially NXIVM, which was a cult AND a multilevel marketing scheme.