We have discussed before how a MLM can cultivate multiple cults of personality through its structure of giving "sales leaders" a lot of power and recognition, mainly through his or her group of downlines. And once the cult started, it is self-reinforcing and self-perpetuating.
A cult will attempt to force its members to stay in the cult, by public shaming, guilt confessions (I'm not good enough, I strive to be better), "team spirit", and so on and so forth.
One Herbalife member stated that she, and her husband, were essentially mind-controlled into investing more money and more time, to make her upline rich, while recruiting more people to make herself rich.
Sometimes, the belief goes to the utterly ridiculous, esp. when it comes to the various health supplements, including claims that ____ treats certain conditions / diseases. In the CNN story regarding Herbalife, one person is documented to have stopped taking diabetes drugs, because she believes her Herbalife regiment rendered it unnecessary.
In an even more extreme case, a father in Australia trusted her daughter's health to a health supplement (by a Ambrotose, company called Mannatech) when she fell sick. After two full weeks she did not get any better, so the father reluctantly took her to the emergency room... only to find that her daughter's condition had deteriorated so far her brain had been damaged during that two weeks of no treatment. He ended up spending 6 MONTHS in jail for child abuse, and her daughter is now confined to a wheelchair due to brain damage.
Those who wonder how much a MLM can resemble a cult may want to watch this video featuring discussion between Steven Hassan, cult expert, and Robert Fitzpatrick, MLM / Pyramid scheme expert.
http://amlmskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/09/video-cult-expert-steven-hassan-discuss.html
"A cult will attempt to force its members to stay in the cult, by public shaming, guilt confessions (I'm not good enough, I strive to be better), "team spirit", and so on and so forth."
ReplyDeleteFrom your above statement and the firsthand knowledge I have of this company is exactly what happened to me when I got involved with Herbalife. It must be in the training of affiliates and they play on vulnerable people. I would advise anyone to stay away from Herbalife.
They "prey" on vulnerable people.
ReplyDeleteYou were vulnerable, and you fell for their pitch. Understand this and resolve not to fall victim again, and teach others about your experience so they do not learn your lesson "the hard way".
It is not merely Herbalife, but most MLMs who allow cult of personality to build up "teams" have the same problem. Amway was long accused of being a cult in a certain sense. Steven Hassan (see video above) called MLMs "commercial cults".