I’m obsessed with scam podcasts. So naturally, when I was searching for something new to listen to, Spotify, which creepily knows me too well, suggested I listen to Hey, Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy, and the Other Lies Behind Multilevel Marketing by Emily Lynn Paulson.
Of course I hit play. I love a true scam story. Even better if it’s exposing the corrupt industry of MLM (multilevel marketing) schemes.
What I didn’t expect was a deep dive into the long history of how MLMs prey on women and their vulnerabilities.
It seems shady because it is
An MLM seems harmless at first glance. An MLM is a company that sells its products through person-to-person sales. The salespeople or “consultants” are the recruits who have to buy the product then sell it directly to people themselves.
But there’s something about it that feels icky.
I remember the first time I felt like I was being recruited. I was in college, and it was some kind of supplement. I wasn’t buying it. Why would my college classmate be selling blue-green algae? Isn’t she a philosophy major?
Then it was Herbalife from someone at the gym. Then Arbonne from multiple women. And DoTerra from multiple more women.
It was always a woman.
None of it sat right with me. Why are you suddenly so excited about a face product or essential oil as a side hustle?
It wasn’t just the sales. I’d see heavily filtered pictures posted on social media of conventions, groups of women, looking way too similar to one another, hair and makeup done, smiling in a way that reeked of The Stepford Wives. This isn’t sales. This is a cult.
This is a business model that appears too good to be true, probably because it is. You just had to invest in a kit, find some recruits, and voila! You’re your own boss making loads of money.
Except it doesn’t work that way. The only way to make money as a consultant is to either sell lots (and I mean LOTS) of product, or recruit new consultants, known as your “downline.”
While this seems enticing to people who want to work from home and be their own bosses, 99% of people involved in MLMs lose money. The whole system is set up to fail its consultants and make money for the company.
Why women?
Most people falling prey to these schemes are women wanting to be their own bosses.
Specifically moms looking to get back into the workforce without sacrificing the time required to be caretakers. In fact, 75% of MLM consultants are women, many of them moms seeking a source of income without having to give up caretaking duties.
Not to mention the fact that when women have been stay-at-home moms for a number of years, there’s a gap in their resumes, making it hard to find work again. Sadly, employers don’t view unpaid domestic work as real work experience.
Enter the MLMs. They know just who to target. These moms feel vulnerable and insecure about their ability to find decent work.
The MLMs seem like the perfect solution. They can work from home, allowing them to take care of their children, all while getting discounts on beauty products. It’s a win-win.
Not only does it give women the alleged “freedom” to be their own bosses, but it also preys on their vulnerabilities. Many of these products are beauty products and weight loss supplements, reinforcing their insecurities.
Alissa Feck of HuffPost writes:
MLMs sell women products they don’t need by playing to a desire to feel and look good, and encouraging those women to target other women by undermining their self-confidence as the system continues to self-perpetuate endlessly.
No, you don’t need that face cream or that diet pill. But some “Boss Babe” will convince you that you do, and in order to solve your insecurities you must buy the kit and join the team.
The MLM scheme is problematic on many levels, but what is not discussed enough is how it exploits women. Want to keep women from climbing up the corporate ladder? Get her involved in an MLM.
Now there’s nothing wrong with being your own boss and working from home. The problem is that you aren’t your own boss when you’re involved in an MLM. You’re working for the boss of the company, no matter what they tell you. And the majority of those bosses are male.
One of the most ubiquitous and longest-running MLMs we know of is Avon. We’ve all heard stories of made-up women knocking on your door selling Avon. This was before the days of Instagram stories and TikTok videos touting the product to thousands of viewers.
Companies like Avon go back as far as the 19th century, relying on women in rural communities to distribute their products. According to Casey Bond of HuffPost:
Since women at that time had limited opportunity to work outside the home, this was an attractive chance to make side income and gain some independence.
Sure, this was great for women over a century ago, but why now? Can’t women work today without relying on these work-from-home schemes?
Apparently not.
In a time where women are finally joining the workforce with men, this is backwards progress. Instead of encouraging women to be working moms, MLMs are reinforcing the notion that women need to stay home and act as caretakers and domestic laborers while the men get to advance in the work force.
A 2018 survey conducted by the Center for American Progress found that 40% more mothers than fathers were likely to report that their careers were negatively impacted by parenthood.
Journalist Jane Marie, who wrote about MLM schemes in Selling the Dream: The Billion-Dollar Industry Bankrupting Americans, states:
Women have remained a population where upward mobility is much more difficult, especially in communities where women are supposed to stay home and take care of the children.
The MLMs aren’t the root of the problem, but rather the powers that reinforce the problem. As long as women have these side hustles where they can work from home, they will continue to stay at home.
MLMs manipulate women
Don’t let the cute catchphrases like “girlboss “ and “SheEO” fool you. They’re used to make women think they’re in charge, when in reality they’re giving money to these MLMs with little to nothing in return.
In fact, MLMs often utilize words like “independence” and “empowerment” to dupe women into thinking they’re part of a feminist movement. Which is a bit of a paradox, considering that most people who join MLMs end up at a financial loss. That’s anything but empowering.
They sell women this dream of “having it all.” You can stay home with the kids and be a girl boss. All while peddling the next product that will make you look young and/or skinny.
It’s selling a dream while reinforcing this notion that women are supposed to do it all. Instead of supporting women going back to work, it’s sending the message that they’re expected to stay at home with the kids, do housework, and have their side hustle. All while looking Instagram beautiful because that’s what a girlboss does.
They further manipulate women by forcing…I mean, encouraging women to look a certain way and post on social media to show all their followers how #blessed their lives are. It’s not just about the sales and recruits, but also the appearance. Almost like they’re trophy wives.
#Hideaway Trend Lip Syncing #shorts #topteeth #lipoil
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And the sisterhood they sell to women? It’s easy to sell something that women miss after having children.
When women in heteronormative relationships are expected to spend every waking hour committed to domestic duties, they lose their social lives.
You could say that they share those duties with their partners, but when was the last time a man when out drinking with his buddies and was asked, “Who’s at home with the kids?”
If a woman decides to go out for drinks with her lady friends, no doubt someone will say, “Who’s at home with the kids?” Because the default caregiving goes to the mom.
This is why one of the sales pitches of MLM schemes is the sisterhood. Miss your social life after having kids? We can give you that, too!
It’s like joining a pyramid scheme sorority.
Except that it’s hardly a sisterhood when they’re only recruiting one another to make more money. It simply pits women against one another in a competition to be the top earner.
Thanks, but I don’t need to be a “consultant” to find female friends.
So now these women are buying into these schemes with the expectation that they can work from home and have an built-in sisterhood, all without leaving the house!
And so the cycle continues.
How do we stop the cycle?
I used to roll my eyes at these Instagram posts of women touting the latest product that will make my wrinkles disappear. How could they be so stupid?
But now I realized they’re not stupid. They’re just victims of a neverending cycle.
Maybe if we gave new moms a bit more grace when they return to the workforce, they wouldn’t resort to these schemes.
Maybe if we women reached out to one another so they wouldn’t feel isolated, they wouldn’t be seeking a false sisterhood.
Maybe if we lifted one another up, women wouldn’t be duped into buying the next product to make them lose weight.
Women aren’t falling prey to these schemes because they aren’t smarter. They fall prey because they’re offered false promises of what they’re missing.
We as a society need to fill in those gaps. And please, stop buying wrinkle cream from your MLM friend.
Alice Cutler is an actor, stand-up, and writer navigating the waters of infertility. She lives part-time in Los Angeles and part-time in Idyllwild.