The Dream Season 1: Exposing Multi-Level Marketing Schemes

The Dream is a podcast about the scams of multi-level marketing schemes. In the podcast, they discuss the many ways that the business of multi-level marketing has put people in debt, caused long-lasting psychological effects, and ruined people’s lives. In each episode, they do a deep dive into a different aspect of MLMs. The host, Jane Marie, does extensive research on the topic to find out how many, if any, people have been successful in their involvement in one of these schemes. The answer: not many. Jane Marie hears from countless people telling their stories about the damage one of these schemes had on their life. 

In the early episodes, Marie interviews a mom of a friend of hers, who got into the MLM world early enough to make a profit. She explains the early tactics of an MLM, including a game called “the airplane game,” in which there would be several players and the “pilot” of the plane would collect money from each of the players. The more money you gave, the closer you got to becoming a pilot. This technique, this promise of money, lured many people in and built the foundation of what we know today as a pyramid scheme. 

So, what is a pyramid scheme? To put it simply, a pyramid scheme is a “business” in which the company’s main customers are people within the company. However, a pyramid scheme also includes a hierarchy in which the people selling have “up lines” that make a profit of whatever they sell. MLMs are referred to often as pyramid schemes because of this structure, which makes it nearly impossible for someone selling the product to make any sort of profit. 

MLMs are often compared closely to cults for many reasons – one being that the businesses often exploit and capitalize on vulnerabilities. Prominent MLMs such as Young Living and LulaRoe, specifically target women- especially those in vulnerable situations. MLMs are attractive- to those who are financially unstable, to those wanting to help support their families more, or even just to those looking for a hobby. MLMs seem like the perfect option: they’re easy to join, profit is promised within a short period of time, and it gives the person a sense of community. But beneath the seemingly shiny surface lies a dark underbelly.

In 2011, the FTC conducted thorough research into the world of MLMs titled “The Case for and Against Multi-Level Marketing Schemes,” in which they found that 99% of people who joined an MLM actually lost money. When you first join an MLM, there is an intake fee, which can range anywhere from $50 to $5000 in some cases. Once you have paid the intake fee, you are sent a box with the product, which you then have to sell. In most cases, it can quickly become overwhelming to sell that much product. In others, such as LulaRoe or Mary Kay, you may not get to choose the product that’s sent to you. Therefore, you may end up with mass amounts of unsellable products. Most MLMs require you to make a monthly quota or sell a certain amount of products, meaning most sellers buy back their own product to meet this quota. This puts them further into debt. 

So, why do people stay in MLMs when it is nearly impossible to make any sort of profit? There are a few reasons that are laid out in the podcast – two of them bring hope and community. Of course, people in these sorts of businesses hope they will succeed, but the people at the top of an MLM often pressure and manipulate the sellers- telling them they are not living up to their full potential or not working hard enough. Therefore, the sellers have the mindset that it is their fault for not succeeding in the business- even though it is a deeply corrupt system in which profit is not usually successful. There is also a sense of community associated with these groups- women often get very close with other people involved and make connections with people. A psychologist who came on the show also discussed the ramifications of admitting that you joined a scheme and were in debt, and what effect that could have on your relationships within and outside of the MLM. 

Overall, this podcast does an incredible job of exposing the dark side of MLM’s. It exposes a kind of business that has exploited people time and time again and shows an overall failure in our society’s actions on taking down MLMS. I highly recommend giving it a listen!

Rating: 5/5 

Listen to the podcast here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dream/id1435743296