karen
Member
Joined: 03 Mar 2005
Posts: 535
Location: Rochester, NY
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 Posted: Sat May 20, 2006 11:26 pm Post subject: Network marketing scams |
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Hi all,
The subject came up, and it's one I have years of experience on all ends of. A good website for learning about the structure of these schemes is www.mlm-thetruth.com
Recently I came across a new one (same deal, new disguises), called Forevergreen, with an attractive looking product called Frequensea. Great mineral source from plankton, so pristine and wonderful, what's not to like? 
So I'm trying to give it the benefit of the doubt, to be fair and evaluate it objectively rather than judging it too quickly. I wanted to find out if this product is significantly better than similar good products that are generally less expensive -- for example, spirulina and chlorella.
The first red alert was that the product is marketed around the experience of the founder, who cured himself of a life-threatening disease by using this product. Isn't it always that way.
Not to deny the validity of his claim, because I have no way of knowing. Maybe people really do get some benefit from this product. But if you look at virtually any health product on the market, you'll see fantastic testimonials. They may be true.
But even if a hundred people were cured by this product, what does that say about MY chances of getting good results with it, or anyone else's?
There are quite a few more pieces of information needed to answer that question. One is, what exactly did those people suffer from, beyond the fake disease labels given them by conventional medicine. And the other is, was their problem simply a nutritional deficiency that could be addressed by nutritional means. Or was it a deeper problem that was helped by better nutrition but not completely resolved. Was it a temporary palliation of symptoms, only to recur later on? Was the superficial symptom cleared while the disease still festers to manifest again later? We don't know any of that.
That's why testimonials aren't very useful except in addition to more substantial information. Not because conventional medicine doesn't like anecdotes, but because they reinforce the belief that making symptoms go away is the same thing as curing disease.
All you can tell from an isolated testimonial is that a person's symptom went away for some period of time. You have no idea of the circumstances which would put that in some meaningful context.
Now back to our network marketed product. Once in a long while, a network marketing product really is unique, but most of the time it's 99.9% marketing hype, leaving many reasonable questions unanswered.
You can scour the whole website and find very little substantial information on these products besides what the company itself provides. Since when did you ask a car salesman his opinion on what would be a good buy for you?
You might find assessments showing that the product contains 9.6 zillion antioxidants. Well, if a modest prune contains 9.5 zillion, am I missing out? Is the added amount that this product provides really necessary?
Logical fallacies like these abound in the MLM world, depending on people's critical faculties to be suspended by hypnosis.
Then you look at the business aspect of it, and often you'll find the same thing, no substantial information before you sign up.
But leaving the business aspect aside for now, I have a few issues with the products themselves. And this is a generalization to make a point, but I think it holds true in most cases. Taking the Frequensea product as an example..
It's the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach, combining large amounts of antioxidants from a variety of sources (making the assumption that more is better). It contains the popular exotic fruits like mangosteen, and other ingredients from expensive sources, when much simpler but less glitzy products may be just as effective. For antioxidants, Lycii fruit or even goji berries can be bought in bulk at reasonable cost ( www.rawfood.com).
Also, "proprietary formulas" make me uncomfortable, especially when flavorings are involved, as many products contain hidden MSG added for flavor enhancement. It's pretty easy to recognize the characteristic MSG taste, and many network marketed products are using it now. I've bought a few of them only to be surprised by the MSG taste, coming from "natural flavors" or "citric acid."
Hmm.. neurotoxins in health products.
As I said, there are even more fallacies if those aren't enough. If anyone has any doubt about a particular product and wants to look at it more critically, let's do it.
Karen
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