Just this morning I read an article in the June 2009 issue of Consumer Reports magazine, and I knew that it would be the subject of my next blog entry. On page 15 I read the title “Beware of work-at-home stings.” The article dealt with three common schemes:
- “Stuff envelopes! Get Paid!”
- “Assemble products at home”
- “Start an Internet business”
The article was fair, informative, and factual.
Below it, though, was a sidebar (bottombar?) titled “Real vs. bogus homework” in which it gave further advice in the form of four admonitions. It is the second admonition to which I take exception. Here it is in its entirety:
Be wary of network building. Stay away from multilevel marketing schemes that make earnings contingent on your ability to sign up an ever-growing pyramid of “distributors” who are supposed to do the same and pass sales commissions up the line.
Now, to be fair, I agree 100% with this statement. It is the topic of one of the chapters in my upcoming book, Demystifying Prosperity™: Why You Should Take a Serious Look at Network Marketing. What separates legitimate network marketing companies from pyramid schemes, though, is that the former reward their distributors on the movement of product or services while the latter reward their distributors simply for signing up more distributors underneath them.
So what is my gripe with this one paragraph in Consumer Reports? Simple. To the casual reader it appears to be condemning network marketing as an industry. The author could have more clearly stated that there are plenty of legitimate network marketing opportunities out there—and the number is growing practically daily as more and more companies realize that word-of-mouth advertising is the best way to move their products and services.
It saddens me to think that this article might keep someone who really needs it from investigating MLM. To be sure, there are shady operations to avoid, and my book will help the reader separate the wheat from the chaff. The two companies that I personally endorse are both beyond reproach, with compensation plans that are entirely product- or service-driven.
So shame on you, Consumer Reports, for not being clearer in your condemnation of only certain “multilevel marketing schemes.” There are plenty of good apples to choose from; don’t let the rotten apples spoil the whole bunch.
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CR will print critical letters in their magazine. You should write one, Carl! I’ll watch for it.