Wednesday 1 August 2012

'Melaleuca Inc.' has exhibited the universal identifying characteristics of a cult.




In the above video, 'Mormon income opportunity' racketeer Frank VanderSloot (b. 1948) not only pretends that his regular ingestion of Melaleuca products has made him physically superior (albeit over a period of just 30 seconds) to a group of highly-trained athletes who are decades his junior, but also that the regular ingestion of Melaleuca products can enable anyone to live longer and be more healthy. 

Predictably, this updated snake oil selling experiment was not carried out under independent supervision.



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This Blog has recently received two questions:

1. Do you consider Frank VanderSloot's Melaleuca Inc. to be a cult, like Herbalife, Amway and Scientology?

2. What questions should be asked of Frank VanderSloot concerning his company's MLM business opportunity? 

The short answers to these questions are:

1. Yes, 'Melaleuca Inc.' has exhibited the universal identifying characteristics of a cult.

2. Since its instigation, exactly how many people have signed up with 'Melaleuca Inc.' and exactly how many of these so-called 'business owners' have got back more money than they paid in? 

Before I elaborate, I would like to point out that, unlike Mr. VanderSloot,  I have no 'political', 'religious'  or 'commercial' affiliations whatsoever. That said, this Blog is self-evidently conservative (in the traditional sense of the word), in that I have called for the re-establishment of the rule of law in the face of wealthy narcissistic charlatans like Mr. VanderSloot (and the members of the DeVos and Van Andel clans), who steadfastly pretend moral and intellectual authority whilst pursuing various hidden criminal objectives. 

At this point, it might be interesting for Blog readers to take a look at some of Mr. VanderSloot's own recent, Orwellian propaganda statements which, themselves, form part of an overall pattern of ongoing major racketeering activity (as defined by the US federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 1970). Although Mr. VanderSloot has quite obviously been running an 'Amway' copy-cat, blame-the-victim,  'MLM income opportunity' racket, and has taken the precaution of grooming, and  buying, his fellow-'Mormon,' Mitt Romney, to avoid being held to account for his crimes, he insists that: 

'Extreme, far left blog sites have recently chosen to hammer Melaleuca and me personally because I had the audacity to support a conservative candidate for President of the United States. They chose to misconstrue the facts and post false and damaging data about us, and then criticized us for asking these sites to take down the false information.  For those who are interested in the truth about us, we provide the following facts addressing the accusations:...

MELALEUCA'S BUSINESS MODEL—It’s unfortunate that someone would suggest that Melaleuca is something like Amway. It's not. We started Melaleuca 26 years ago to market environmentally responsible products and to provide a business opportunity for folks who weren't successful in climbing the corporate ladder and didn't inherit wealth from their parents. We try to be champions of the little guy. My father was a little guy. And I still see myself as a little guy.

Contrary to those who do not know us, our business model is nothing like Amway or Herbalife. I challenge anyone to find any similarity whatsoever. There is no investment of any kind unless you want to call a $29 membership fee an "investment." And anyone can get a refund on that by just asking.

We do offer a home-based business opportunity. But it is no "pyramid scheme." We have long been critical of the many MLM/pyramid schemes operating in this country. I agree with those who say that typical MLM companies destroy people’s finances. Most are designed to attract people to "invest" in large purchases with the promise of "getting rich" quickly by getting others to invest. The guy at the top always wins and the guy on the bottom always loses.

In Melaleuca's case there is no investment and no getting others to invest. We do pay commissions to those who have referred customers based on what those customers purchase. There is really no way to lose money on referring customers. And there's no way for customers to lose either when they're buying high-quality products at grocery store prices. Customers just order the products they use every month directly from the factory. We have hundreds of thousands of customers who buy from us each month. They don't ever resell anything. They don't invest in any inventory. There can be no pyramiding without some kind of investment. In 26 years, no one has ever complained that they lost money. It’s simply not possible.

Our business model works pretty well for most folks. We have already paid over $2.9 billion in commissions to households across the country. Our mission is to enhance lives by helping people reach their goals regardless of their beliefs, backgrounds, or affiliations. Last month we sent out almost 200,000 checks to American households alone. Members of those households tell us we are doing a pretty good job achieving that mission.'





  

12 comments:

  1. What an incredible blog. I have been linking it to www.realscam.com so more people can enjoy this eye-opening look at the fraud that is MLM. Kudos!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tens of thousands of hard working people are ¤ funneling in and washing out ± of Melaleuca’s pyramid/MLM business model each and every month. Many of these joiners have no idea they have joined an MLM Multi-level Marketing business. Why you may ask?, well, the simple truth is deception. People are lied to and it must end. http://kenklocke.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ken Klocke - Might I enquire as to what is your own personal interest in 'Maleleuca?' If you want to send me your contact details in a comment, these will not be posted.

      In the mean time, when you add up the overall total number of ill-informed individuals who are being churned through countless copy-cat cultic 'income opportunity' rackets worldwide, it's been tens of millions annually for decades.

      I have it on very good authority, that world-class liar, Frank VanderSloot, now freely admits that 'MLM income opportunities' like 'Herbalife', 'Amway', etc. , are all dissimulated pyramid scams, but he insists that his own 'Maleleuca income opportunity' isn't an 'MLM,' therefore, it's not a dissimulated pyramid scam.

      Mr. VanderSloot's jargon-laced Orwellian explanation of why his demonstrably-fake 'direct selling' company has not been comparable to 'Herbalife' , 'Amway' etc. (i.e. a corporate front for ongoing major organized crime) is laughable.

      Instead of collecting cash directly from their recruits (to be passed on to 'Maleleuca'), Vanderloot's adherents collect a form of promisary note (a.k.a 'referral order') from their recruits, and the recruits then hand over their cash directly to 'Maleleuca.' Accorcing to Vandersloot, this is what makes 'Maleleuca' different to all 'MLM income opportunity' rackets - 'Maleleuca' adherents 'don't sell anything.'

      In the adult world of quantifiable reality, Vandersloot's human-trap might have a slightly different design, but its results have been absolutely identical.

      VanderSloot's modified 'Prosperity Gospel' fairy story would be torn to shreads by well-informed federal investigators and prosecutors.

      Frank VanderSloot is a classic Narcissistic personality who evidently still thinks that everyone else is a fool, and that he's going to be there to steal even more cash when 'Herbalife', 'Amway' etc. get busted by the Feds.

      Delete
    2. David Brear

      I'm just a guy trying to do the right thing ... Protect the Consumer!

      Thanks for the blog!

      Respectfully, Ken Klocke

      Delete
  3. Having worked for the other side of Melaleuca (corporate) and having a lot of interaction with their marketing executives and spending years hearing about their products and and using them , I can definitely say there are issues. I don't believe there is enough honesty, I don't feel their products are all they claim to be, and that's just the tip of the ice burg.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous - Quite right, 'Melaleuca' products, and those of countless other so-called 'MLM' companies, are the tip of a multi-billion dollar racketing iceberg.

      The tip of the 'MLM' iceberg has been maliciously presented as a harbour beacon and it continues to attract countless millions of desperate individuals in search of a safe haven.

      The effectively-unsaleable wampum products in 'MLM' rackets have been just a means of laundering unlawful losing investment payments into copy-cat dissimulated closed-market swindles aka pyramid schemes. Behind these swindles lurk related advance fee frauds - where chronic victims (with access to independent funds) are peddled the 'secrets of success.'

      Today it is difficult to calculate how many people's lives have been wrecked on the dissimulated 'MLM' iceberg.

      If you have further information, please feel free to contact me via e-mail

      axiombook@wanadoo.fr

      Delete
  4. Update<> Listed in MLM/pyramid scams
    I was involved with "Melaleuca, Inc. for Sixteen years... a few of them actually weren't bad. And, we enjoyed using many of the products. However, as the years went by.... it became very scheme-ish. I believe Melaleuca, Inc. Is a, Senseless, MLM, Pyramid _-_ Scheme.
    º google.com/search?q=Is+m…

    ¶ bbb.org/snakeriver/busin…
    *ConsumerProtection *ProtectingVeteransRights *TruthInAdvertising *

    º google.com/search?q=is+m…
    ºp- Melaleuca politics: google.com/search?q=Mela…
    º google.com/search?q=ftc+…
    º awumoms.com/sample/index… (Alan D. Pariser /Presents/ AWU)
    º google.com/search?q==fri…

    Go sell your dream! ~KK

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Melaleuca, Inc's $24+MILLION dollar + Mela_Shill "Alan D.Pariser" Terminated me with a phone call. Then, Alan Pariser- threatened me with a restraining order- if I exposed his threats and/or talk. Shorty after, A.P. cheated me, he.. Alan Pariser, received a three hundred thousand dollar+ shillª bonus... ($ 300,000.00) "Phony, pretentious, shill, prick." indeed

    [ I believe I was outed from this cultish MLM/ for being a _Non Compliance ¹Whistleblower_ Meaning: I exposed Melaleuca, Inc's true-endless-chain... fraud... As I See It.]
    ripoffreport.com/reports…

    Melaleuca CEO, Frank VanderSloot, Denies ties to MLM Industry
    ºhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp03RQe_nhU

    KK© 10:08 AM
    Saturday, July 30, 2016 (PDT)
    Time in Henderson, NV
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    #DeniedDueProcess #MLM #Antitrust #DOJ #RicoConcerns
    #Caselaw ¶ google.com/search?q=mela… ¶

    Rinse, lather, Repeat... . MLM/ FTC/ Pyramids/ Endless Chains. "Respectfully."
    º ftc.gov/news-events/blog…
    º ftc.gov/tips-advice/busi…
    º ecowatch.com/2014/01/30/…
    º multivitaminguide.org/Me…
    ºº LGBT+issues/ google.com/search?q=Mela…

    "The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is." - Winston Churchill ~[][][]~

    *I pray for federal Protections= as well as swift- intervention, and restructuring of this "NoRecruitNoPay" MLM/pramid scheme & societal_-_Menace.

    *Clue__ google.com/search?q=mela… /slippage/skim 8/80+m? #SOS #FTC #How? #DoJ #FBI #CIA

    ¹=The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble, or prohibiting ...
    First Amendment to the United States Constitution - Wikipedia, the free ...

    º en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fi…
    º google.com/search?q=i=in…

    Ken Klocke's living.code™ (l.c.) "Thesis" #interesting....... ... .
    Thank you for the matter = ¹Yelp! _solid.matters
    Intellectual property rights notice: All Rights Reserved (l.c/ip)\
    Copyright KK© 2014-2016
    Unicode as U+00A9

    ReplyDelete
  5. Update<>

    MELALEUCA HEALTH CLAIMS DATABASE

    A TINA.org investigation has revealed that MLM supplements and products are being recommended for a multitude of maladies without appropriate substantiation. https://www.truthinadvertising.org/melaleuca-health-claims-database/ is a sampling of TINA.org’s findings for this company. Read more about TINA.org’s investigation of illegal health claims here. This company was notified of TINA.org’s findings and, on January 20, 2017, sent TINA.org a response. <> https://www.truthinadvertising.org/melaleuca-health-claims-database/ "Think Before You Drink!" ~KK

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am not a member of melaleuca or have ever worked for them, but I can say that there are many companies like this out there that people want to be apart of simply because they like to use natural items. it is hard to find some of the things you like to use and people who are buying those items know that they are not cures, but they are beneficial in different ways.
    It's no different than Amway and other things when people join them thinking they're going to become millionaires. It simply isn't true for most people. it's not like they're trying to scam the world necessarily, there is the opportunity for people to do that. The fact of the matter is most just cannot do that. It takes a special personality and get up and go in order to be able to do it.
    The world is just naive and just wants a get rich quick type of thing and that doesn't happen. The people of America more than other countries seem to think that they can do things and get rich quickly and then be lazy while they're being lazy trying to do it..
    One thing I would like to say about this particular blog post is that there's absolutely no reason to bring up Mormonism because it has nothing to do with it. If somebody owned a company and they were Baptist you would not say Baptist John farwell or what not. you speak of separation between church and state and that things can't be done connected to these things although you are bringing it up.
    I'm only commenting because it's actually kind of irritating to listen to people complain about companies that people freely join. If they are naive enough to believe that they can get rich quick because they've gotten hyped up by people who have actually done it then they're pretty darn stupid. 😢

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lesa - I have lost count of the number of commentators who have contacted this Blog claiming that they have no contractual connection with 'MLM' companies, but still bleating elements of the pernicious blame-the-victim 'MLM' fairy story.


      You are evidently just the latest one; for since the bosses of so-called 'MLM income oopportunities' have all been hiding the quantifiable results of their fraudulent activities (i.e. the fact that effectively no one can generate an overall net-income from regularly retailing 'MLM' products/services to the general public for a profit no matter how much time, effort and cash they commit), your unsupported proposition that people have freely-joined 'MLMs', is clearly an example of an element of the pernicious blame-the-victim 'MLM' fairy story.

      The only truly-free choice, is a fully-informed choice.


      FYI. 'Mormonism' is a non-rational ritual belief system instigated by a convicted charlatan who (amongst other things) claimed that 'Jesus was born in Missouri.' The fact that the instigator of the 'Melaleuca' racket has pretended moral and intellectual authority by declaring himself to be an adherent of this 'religious' fiction is highly-relevant, but then your critical and evaluative faculties whould need to be fully-functioning to appreciate this.

      Delete
  7. I realize that this blog is not so recent - but I have happened upon it as I was browsing MLM- related info online. As a forever student of social sciences and a biz wiz I have always been totally fascinated by the double-talking, slippery and fork-tongued purveyors of “opportunity.”

    I won’t say how or in what way (because the tail of the beast will no doubt snap back around and slap me from some dark, ungodly dimension which I do not wish to invite upon myself) but I wholeheartedly agree with the opinion that these opportunity salespeople are running a cult. It’s sick. I have come across the selling instructions from a director in a very well known but never mentioned (red flag) company who has rules for engaging the potential contact that are manipulative, overreaching, and just plain deceptive. They absolutely DO charge you and no matter how much money you spend, you’ll be spending even more in YOUR TIME, which as we know is the most valuable thing we have.

    They are exploiting people for the gain of building their opportunity bait box. You would be better off learning how to properly market a decent product and either work for yourself directly as an ACTUAL entrepreneur or work for a great company in your community that will actually be upstanding and transparent.

    The fact that they ask and instruct people to lie or obscure the company name says everything you need to know about whether these companies are upright, law abiding, dignified members of the community or if they are duplicitous, opportunistic snakes in the grass, ready to strike and feed off of any man, woman or mouse who walks by.

    Also: a thousand extra points to you, dear writer, for the best writing I’ve seen in ages!! You nailed it!! These people are just plain sleazy and ridiculous - anyone that defends them is either already involved or is the next mark.

    Have a fantastic day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://mlmtheamericandreammadenightmare.blogspot.com/2022/10/amway-recruitment-banned-in-japan.html
      Thanks Anonymous. Other articles on this Blog are very recent.

      Delete