The Atlantic recently published a lengthy piece on the proliferation of multi-level marketing operations (aka pyramid schemes) on social media platforms.
Multi-level marketing, the practice in which regular-ass people sell shoddy-ass products to friends and family, and then recruit said friends and family to do the same in exchange for a percentage of their sales, “is experiencing a major boom,” according to the article. “In fact… there are more MLM companies in 2017 than there have ever been before. One in six households in the United States participate in a direct-sales company.”
One of the most popular MLM “success stories” is that of LuLaRoe, which requires a $5,000 buy-in, a price tag that’s supposed to limit market saturation. Only it didn’t. The story says that in just six months, “sales consultants from LuLaRoe have shot up from 38,000 to 77,000.” Unfortunately, “most of those consultants aren’t making much money — if any at all.”
But whoever recruited them did, and social media – an easy way to connect with friends, as well as share a false narrative about the awesomeness of your life – is how they were able to do it.
So, if you see any of your mom’s friends pedaling yoga pants in your feed, as well as talking how about much bank they’re making in the process, just keep scrolling.
You can read more about it at The Atlantic.
