Tag: multilevel marketing

Black Oxygen Organics (BOO)

BOO: Or how “magic dirt” became a MLM miracle cure scam for COVID-19

"BOO" stands for Black Oxygen Organics, a "cure" for COVID-19 that got the attention of regulators last week. Basically, it's dirt billed by its believers as "magic dirt" that sells for $110 a bag (plus shipping) through a multilevel marketing sales model. What can this latest COVID cure tell us about the relationship between alternative medicine and COVID-19 denial?

/ December 6, 2021

Plexus: MLM Strikes Again

Many health-related products are sold through multilevel marketing (MLM); now the FTC is warning them to stop making false claims about COVID-19. The tactics that MLMs use to promote all their products are deceptive and are a variation on the old Ponzi scam.

/ September 15, 2020

Radioactive Energy Cards

Thailand officials warn of a radioactive snake-oil "energy card." It's worse than worthless – it's actively dangerous.

/ June 19, 2019

Juice Plus+: Good Marketing, Not Good Science

Juice Plus+ is a multilevel marketing company selling fruits and vegetables that they have reduced to a powder and put into capsules. It's clever marketing using deceptive advertising. There is no scientific evidence that it benefits health.

/ June 11, 2019

Protandim Update: New Studies and an FDA Warning Letter

Multilevel distributors of the dietary supplement Protandim think that evidence from scientific studies supports their claims for their product. The FDA disagrees.

/ May 9, 2017

The THRIVE Experience: Masterful Marketing, Short on Substance

My daughter told me about the latest health fad among her group of acquaintances. She knows people who are spending $300 a month on the THRIVE program and claiming miraculous results. With a skeptic for a mother, my daughter knew enough to question the claims and do her own research; she was not impressed. She concluded that THRIVE was essentially selling caffeine...

/ June 28, 2016

Nevada’s new quack protection law

Practicing a licensed health care profession, such as medicine, without a license used to be a felony in Nevada. Not any more. As of July 1, quacks and charlatans are free to ply their trades unencumbered by the threat that they might have to answer to the regulatory authorities for their misdeeds, as long as they follow a few simple rules. This...

/ July 9, 2015

Healthy Habits Global: Spreading False Information about an MLM Coffee with Herbal Additives

When my husband was helping a friend with a project at the house of someone he didn’t know, the lady of the house gave him an earful about the health benefits of the coffee sold by Healthy Habits Global (HHG), a multilevel marketing (MLM) enterprise for which she is a distributor. She sent him home with samples and a brochure with a...

/ April 7, 2015

dōTERRA: Multilevel Marketing of Essential Oils

A stay-at-home mom recently e-mailed me. She is a former CAM user who once treated her infant’s colic with homeopathy but has since seen the light and is now thinking skeptically. She asked that I look into the dōTERRA company, seller of essential oils: concentrated extracts distilled from plants, containing the “essence” or distinctive odor of the plant. She said: …moms, well...

/ January 22, 2013

Isagenix Study Is Not Convincing

Isagenix is a wellness system sold by multilevel marketing. It consists of a suite of products to be used in various combinations for “nutritional cleansing,” detoxification, and supplementation to aid in weight loss, improve energy and performance, and support healthy aging. It allegedly burns fat while supporting lean muscle, maintains healthy cholesterol levels, supports telomeres, improves resistance to illness, reduces cravings, improves...

/ December 11, 2012