Herbalife (and other pyramid schemes)

[Foe]

Watched a pretty interesting documentary on Netflix a couple of nights ago based on Herbalife, 'Betting on Zero'.

Anyone else watched it? Anyone involved in Herbalife or seen it first hand?

The only time I've ever seen it IRL is a lad from back home who's done very well for himself setting up a PT business about 6-7 years ago before the boom aimed at older ladies (he's a pretty solid part time footballer and a pretty good looking lad so not surprised he's doing well in that market). He basically lolled the Herbalife sellers who kept trying to get him involved into submission seeing it for exactly what it was.

It's quite a scary prospect really, using hopes and dreams to build an empire on a false premise. Can't help but think at some point they'll just go full circle and cut the whole 'recruit' business and try and swing towards a typical nutrition firm to avoid any sanctions. Share price has absolutely boomed though, presumably because they've not run out of markets to step into a take advantage of.

I'm probably going to do a bit of reading about it, but as one sided as the documentary appears to be, I'm not entirely sure how legit it can really be.

[Magic]

I'd completely forgotten that even existed. Has the fad still not passed?

[Shindig]

Bitconnect merged Pyramid schemes with cryptocurrency. With sexy results.

[Baz]

Unsurprisingly I’m in one. Feel free to join (http://goo.gl/aB9owv) and recruit.

[Shindig]

I'm not clicking on that until I'm certain it's not a paedo ring.

[Kikó]

It's a peado ring.

It's funny how many people seem to get involved in these multi layer marketing schemes and pretend it's life changing.

[Lewis]

The Betting on Zero bloke BOTTLED IT recently, having lost hundreds of millions betting on zero.

[Kikó]

The big short didn't come off. Ackerman was also involved in another documentary on Netflix where he backed the wrong horse again.

[Spikey M]

Isn’t it basically what Avon have been doing since 1804? How could it be illegal? Or is it different from Avon in some sketchy way?

My Mrs does Avon, but purely because she wanted to buy some stuff from them but couldn’t find a representative/dealer. A lot of her mates said the same when she was asking if anyone knew one so she started doing it herself. She makes her self about £50 pocket money a month, which is alright. I’ve got some decent deodorant out of it as well :cool:

[Kikó]

I'm not sure how the Avon model works but Herbalife real money maker is in the referral model and the more you buy the cheaper it is. They sell the dream you can be a millionaire when in reality you're selling overpriced health shit.

[nsd]

Avon is different in that you don't have to buy the stock before you sell it (as far as I know). You take orders from people then you place an order with the distributor and hand it over. As opposed to MLMs which are built around preying on family/friends, as the measure of 'success' is more about how many people you recruit rather than how much you sell, and it's pretty much impossible to turn a profit. Avon products are also half decent, whereas shit like Plexus/Herbalife/Younique/LuLaRoe is poor quality product/dodgy pseudoscience with a massive markup.

[Spikey M]

Ah. Fair enough. The only exposure I’ve had to Herbalife is that every single mother I’ve ever had on Facebook has been flogging it at some point.

[nsd]

The /r/antimlm subreddit is always a good read. The mental gymnastics some people use to justify wasting so much money and alienating everybody is astounding.

[Lewis]

Are the products really that bad? I've just looked at the website, and it all seems like pretty standard meal replacement/vitamin stuff. You might well make the case that they are pointless and crap compared to actually sorting your diet out in a more sustainable way, but stuff like Slimfast and that have been around forever, so I struggle to see how it is all wank on its own terms. As for it being over-priced, look at the mark-ups on brand name whey protein and shite like that. You're making it sound like a bunch of rubes selling each other icing sugar.

[Lewis]

And no I don't sell it.

[Spikey M]

Are the products really that bad? I've just looked at the website, and it all seems like pretty standard meal replacement/vitamin stuff. You might well make the case that they are pointless and crap compared to actually sorting your diet out in a more sustainable way, but stuff like Slimfast and that have been around forever, so I struggle to see how it is all wank on its own terms. As for it being over-priced, look at the mark-ups on brand name whey protein and shite like that. You're making it sound like a bunch of rubes selling each other icing sugar.

It’s generally “COCONUT MILK MEAL REPLACEMENT, BOOST YOUR METABOLISM AND CURE YOUR SPOTS” bollocks. They’re not alone in doing it, Holland & Barrett have been doing it since before Woolworths tanked it. Adding on a layer of exploitation of ‘employee’s’ on top of the exploitation of customers is a master stroke, mind.

[Giggles]

I'd probably enjoy one of their supplements more than a salad or something.