• John Oliver Exposes the Scam of Multi-Level Marketing

    Last Week Tonight With John Oliver devoted this week’s episode to multi-level marketing. Although he uses quite a bit of humor in his presentation, his analysis of MLM is spot on. Multi-level marketing companies are pyramid schemes, plain and simple. […]

  • Is Usana Running an Illegal Pyramid Scheme?

    All good multi-level marketing companies have one thing in common: They fail to disclose enough information to allow consumers and regulators to determine if they are in the business of recruiting or selling products. They disclose just enough facts and […]

  • Multi-Level Marketing Companies and Pyramid Schemes

    For decades, muti-level marketing companies like Amway, Mary Kay, Herbalife, Avon, and Usana have fought against being labeled as pyramid schemes. They say that pyramid schemes are illegal, and that their MLM business format is perfectly legal. My definition of […]

  • Herbalife: Important or Not Important?

    Questions posed to Herbalife earlier this year by David Einhorn sent the stock price down quickly. Einhorn simply wanted to know about customers… actual consumers of the Herbalife products. One has to assume Einhorn has done lots of research on […]

  • Interesting Develoments in Case of Mary Kay Cosmetics Trying to Stop Liquidators From Buying and Selling Their Products

    In the world of Mary Kay Cosmetics, recruiting new victims into the multi-level marketing (MLM) system and frontloading them with large inventory packages is critical to the survival of the company. The company and the upper levels of the pyramid […]

  • Fantastic Article About MLMs and Moms

    The publication Brain, Child has a wonderful story written by Stacey Schultz, about the devastating effects multi-level marketing companies can have on women. She’s included specific comments about Herbalife, Arbonne, and Mary Kay, but also has a lot of general […]

  • Irresponsible reporting about Usana by The Associated Press

    In an article today about the Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ:USNA) buyout offer by Myron Wentz (Gull Holdings), the following inaccurate statement was made: The Securities and Exchange Commission concluded during the first quarter USANA’s marketing model is not a pyramid […]

  • Primerica Financial Services a Scam?

    Over on my consumer awareness site, Pink Truth, I have put together a few articles about Primerica Financial Services. Like Mary Kay, Usana, and Mannatech, Primerica is a multi-level marketing company (MLM). The big difference, however, is that these other […]

  • The fight against Mary Kay Cosmetics gets some press

    A fluff piece about a Mary Kay Cosmetics distributor in the Springfield News Sun this morning mentions my website, pinktruth.com. The fluff piece focuses on a woman who drives a “Mary Kay car” and reportedly has good pay. Yet at […]

  • Pyramid Scheme Alert update

    In late November, I announced that I had been appointed to the Board of Advisors of Pyramid Scheme Alert (PSA). PSA is an organization dedicated to educating consumers about multi-level marketing companies and pyramid schemes. While MLMs are technically legal […]