Truth, the Enemy of the Amway Global Cult

In the past this blog has described Amway's entry into the Republic of India.  Anti-corruption author David Brear has described this entry into India as a 'Trojan Horse'. Right thinking Indian authorities have correctly deduced that Amway is indeed a illegality which violates Indian laws against Prize Chits and Money Circulation schemes. (What people in the United States might describe as 'pyramid' scams.)

 Now, it seems that Amway has gone on what Harish Bijoor describes in an online 'business article' as a media blitz to redeem Amway's tainted image in the World's largest Democracy. I must laugh about this authors use of

"micro-entrepreneurs"

(or as Amway calls them 'IBOs,' supposed 'Independent Business Owners'-an incredibly misleading terminology.)

Unsuspecting 'marks' recruited into the Amway cult have very little control over how they operate their supposed 'independent' business with Amway dictating BY CONTRACT what these 'drones' can and cannot do. Entrepreneurial and Independent 'business owners' these believers in the Amway system are not!

 Anyone familiar with Amway knows that recruits into this cult are taught to follow a very strict methodology: which is to buy and consume the intentionally overpriced products and recruit others who are then brainwashed with this same 'self defeating' strict code. Indeed, for Amway, a chain of customers is formed by its own sales channel 'non-distributors'. These Amway's drones are asked to devote themselves religiously to the  'pie in the sky' insane idea of achieving 'financial independence'. They are brainwashed by pictures of  successful upline distributors who are displayed 'living in the lap of luxury': driving expensive autos, vacationing on yachts, and living the American dream.

Amway recruits are 'schooled' by the Amway Kingpins to consume their own purchases. (Amway intentionally prices their products to be unmarketable to those not participating in the 'distribution channel' and the primary method the Amway Cult Initiator's (DeVos/Van Andel) have used to 'over-charge' for relatively mundane crap--vitamins, energy bars, water filters and the like--to extract billions in U.S. dollars and leave those who fail to realize an impossible dream in a carefully devised scheme to blame themselves.

For all intents and purposed, those recruited into this money circulating scheme are those who 'believe' the Amway message: that they can become fabulously wealthy by devoting themselves whole-hardheartedly to a 'narrowly defined' marketing scheme which can be described as a 'zero sum game' where nearly all lose their time, money and self respect in a futile attempt to recruit family, friends and strangers into Amway's carefully 'plotted' product pyramid scheme.

Truth is indeed the enemy of all cults!

Amway By Any Other Name: Just As Bad!

I have been writing a blog entitled Quixtar Cult Intervention. Due to Alticor's 2007 announcement that they are going to dump the Quixtar name and begin calling the North American operations Amway Global, I am also following suit and beginning my new blog: Amway Global Cult Intervention. To folks who read Quixtar Cult Intervention, this new blog will be more of the same Amway criticism and discussion begun there. I considered re-posting most of my QCI posts on this blog, but decided that I would begin posting original content here instead.

Most people are aware of Amway, which has since the year 2000 been operating their North American Multi-Level Marketing Company as Quixtar. Both the Quixtar name and the Amway Global name will appear together during the transition period. The name change is supposed to herald a new direction for Amway. It would appear that 2008 has seen a renewed emphasis on distributors actually retailing some product. Whether this actually happens is hard to tell. Amway's hands seem to be tied from the standpoint of carrying through on their retailing objectives. The reason being the top kingpin distributors, who basically hold cult-like control over their down line distributors. Their objectives and the company's objectives many times seem at odds.

Quixtar/Amway Global distributors have been lured into the business by tactics developed by the kingpin motivational organizations. Many people are recruited into the business after being told that Quixtar/Amway is merely a supplier. The Motivational Organizations claim to be in possession of all the "secrets" to becoming a wealthy big shot in their business. This creates a problem for Amway. Many of the distributors remain much more loyal to their up-line motivational organization than they do to Amway.

Last year, a large group of "Independent Business Owners" defected from Quixtar/Amway after several of the kingpin distributors quit/were fired from the IBOAI. Kingpin Orrin Woodward flexed his cult-like influence and IBO loyalty to Quixtar/Amway quickly became disloyalty; the IBO Rebellion was born. Estimates that as many as 100,000 IBOs soon resigned. Recently Amway has alleged that as many as 31,000 former IBOs have signed on with a competitor MLM, MonaVie, who market a health drink product.

Amway has operated a Multi-Level Marketing Business that has a nearly 50 year long history in the U.S. and has in recent years expanded into many of the world's economies. Emphasis on foreign markets is an attempt to exploit people who have not been exposed to Amway's bad reputation and scandals here.

Amway returns to a name that was the "poster child" for MLM reform in the States not so many years ago. Quixtar, Amway's more recent incarnation, has also been sullied by a pervasive "tool" scandal and the criticism of former insiders turned whistle blowers. Operators of MLM schemes and scams have a much harder time recruiting new distributors among a better informed public. The Internet has become the primary means for critical information about MLM corruption to be disseminated. Prior to the Internet age, Amway distributors basically could operate with a mostly uninformed public.

Amway Global Cult Intervention exists to help prevent good folk from becoming involved in Amway Global (or most any other MLM) which basically are money extracting scams. People signing on as a partner in one of these pyramid sham businesses generally become badly deceived dreamers who do all the buying of incredibly over priced products and the mostly worthless books, tapes, and function tickets: all in hope of keeping their “dream” of future wealth alive.

Sadly, the number of people failing in these phony recruitment businesses are nearly everyone--there being a 99.9% failure rate. Only a very, very small number of people succeed in MLM. They are the entrepreneur who started the MLM, and the early adopter kingpins. If you are not already in one of these two distinct groups of people, your dreams of success are destined to remain only dreams that will have you squandering time and money resources which would be better used elsewhere.