Amway is an American multi-level marketing (MLM) company that sells health, beauty, and home care products. The company was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos and is based in Ada, Michigan. Amway and its sister companies under Alticor reported sales of $8.4 billion in 2019. It conducts business through a number of affiliated companies in more than a hundred countries and territories. Amway has been investigated in various countries and by institutions such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for alleged pyramid scheme practices, but it has never been found guilty, though it has paid tens of millions of dollars to settle these suits.
A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes exponentially impossible, and most participating members are unable to be of benefit; as such, pyramid schemes are unsustainable and often illegal.
An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of direct response television (DRTV), they're often program-length commercials, and are typically 28:30 or 58:30 minutes in length. Infomercials are also known as paid programming. This phenomenon started in the United States, where infomercials were typically shown overnight, outside peak prime time hours for commercial broadcasters. Some television stations chose to air infomercials as an alternative to the former practice of signing off. Some channels air infomercials 24 hours. Some stations also choose to air infomercials during the daytime hours mostly on weekends to fill in for unscheduled network or syndicated programming. By 2009, most infomercial spending in the U.S. occurred during the early morning, daytime and evening hours, or in the afternoon. Stations in most countries around the world have instituted similar media structures. The infomercial industry is worth over $200 billion.
Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as direct response marketing. By contrast, advertising is of a mass-message nature.
Herbalife Nutrition is a global multi-level marketing (MLM) corporation that develops and sells dietary supplements. The company was founded by Mark Hughes in 1980, and it employs an estimated 8,900 people worldwide. The business is incorporated in the Cayman Islands, with its corporate headquarters located in Los Angeles, California. The company operates in 94 countries through a network of approximately 4.5 million independent distributors and members. Their products have been reported to cause liver damage.
Kevin Mark Trudeau is an American fraudster, author, and salesman, known for promotion of his books and resulting legal cases involving the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). His ubiquitous late-night infomercials, which promoted unsubstantiated health, diet, and financial advice, earned him a fortune but eventually resulted in civil and criminal penalties for fraud, larceny, and contempt of court.
Joseph Weider was a Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur who co-founded the International Federation of BodyBuilders (IFBB) alongside his brother Ben Weider. He was also the creator of the Mr. Olympia, the Ms. Olympia and the Masters Olympia bodybuilding contests. He was the publisher of several bodybuilding and fitness-related magazines, most notably Muscle & Fitness, Flex, Men's Fitness and Shape, and the manufacturer of a line of fitness equipment and fitness supplements.
Airborne is an American brand of dietary supplement containing herbal extracts, amino acids, antioxidants, electrolytes, vitamins, and other ingredients originally marketed as preventing the common cold and improving immune function.
Nu Skin Enterprises is an American multilevel marketing company that develops and sells personal care products and dietary supplements under its Nu Skin and Pharmanex brands. Nu Skin was founded in 1984 in Provo, Utah. The company originated in the United States and began its first foreign operation in Canada in 1990. One year later, the company began operations in Asia with the opening of Hong Kong. In 1996, the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company markets its products in 54 markets through a network of approximately 1.2 million independent distributors.
Juice Plus+ is a branded line of dietary supplements containing concentrated fruit and vegetable juice extracts fortified with added vitamins and nutrients. It is produced by Natural Alternatives International of San Marcos, California, for National Safety Associates. Introduced in 1993, the supplements are distributed by NSA via multi-level marketing.
BBB National Programs, an independent non-profit organization, oversees more than a dozen national industry self-regulation programs that provide third-party accountability and dispute resolution services to companies, outside and in-house counsel, consumers, and others in arenas such as privacy, advertising, data collection, child-directed marketing, and more.
The Direct Selling Association (DSA) is a trade association in the United States that represents direct selling companies, primarily those that use multi-level marketing compensation plans. On behalf of its members' companies, the DSA engages in public relations and lobbying efforts against regulation of the multi-level marketing industry, and it funds political candidates through a political action committee. Direct Selling Association trade groups not located in the United States are independent of the U.S. DSA and represent organizations locally in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia, India, Singapore, and New Zealand, among others.
Multi-level marketing (MLM), also called network marketing or pyramid selling, is a controversial marketing strategy for the sale of products or services where the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling the company's products or services, while the earnings of the participants are derived from a pyramid-shaped or binary compensation commission system. An MLM strategy may be an illegal pyramid scheme.
Usana Health Sciences, Inc., or USANA, is a Utah-based multi-level marketing company that produces various nutritional products, dietary supplements and skincare products. Usana products, most of which are manufactured at the company's West Valley City facility, are sold in 24 countries via a network of independent distributors. Most of Usana's independent distributors make less money than the cost of the initial qualifying purchase.
Daily Burn is a health and fitness company with a membership of approximately 2.5 million that provides workout and nutrition programs on a variety of web, mobile, and TV apps. Daily Burn streaming workout videos are led by master trainers and produced by Mason Bendewald, the director of Beachbody's P90X workout program. IAC holds a majority stake in the company.
AdvoCare International, L.P. is an American dietary supplement company and former multi-level marketing company that was determined by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to be operating a pyramid scheme. The company, headquartered in Plano, Texas, was founded in 1993 by Charles Ragus and employed roughly 250 people in 2013. When AdvoCare switched from multi-level marketing to single-level direct selling in 2019, it claimed a network of approximately 100,000 independent distributors.
Vi is an American multilevel marketing (MLM) company based in Los Angeles, California, with offices in Downtown Detroit, Michigan.· The company is mostly known for the Body by Vi 90-Day Challenge platform. The company markets weight management nutritional products, dietary supplements and energy drinks in the United States, Canada, Italy and United Kingdom. Weight management products, including Vi-Shape meal replacement shake and Vi-Trim Clear Control Drink Mix, form the bulk of the company's sales.
Vemma Nutrition Company was a privately held multi-level marketing company that sold dietary supplements. The company was shut down in 2015 by the FTC for engaging in deceptive practices and pyramid scheming.
Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing (FHTM) was a Lexington, Kentucky based company which used multi-level marketing to sell consumer goods and services. The company was founded in January 2001. In January 2013, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and regulators for three states shut down FHTM for being a pyramid scheme.
The Trump Network was a multi-level marketing company named after businessman Donald Trump. The company, which sold vitamins and health products, was initially founded as Ideal Health in 1997, before being renamed in 2009 as part of a licensing agreement between Trump and the owners. The licensing agreement expired at the end of 2011, and the company's remaining assets were sold to Bioceutica the following year.
