XKCD on Crowdsourcing... Isn't Crowdsourced Marketing MLM?

http://xkcd.com/1060/

Isn't crowd-sourced marketing just MLM? Think about it. MLM companies "crowd-source" their marketing to their reps (letting them bear the marketing costs).

The problem with some MLM companies is they ONLY do marketing. They don't have their own products or services. They are purely marketing organizations that can be pushing multiple companies / opportunities at the same time. That creates a fundamental disconnect, as there are TWO types of people... customers, and affiliates. If you can't figure out which is which (they respond to different things), you have a pyramid scheme in the making. They have no "us". They are much like this comic: it's all about other people making and selling products.

So what is the company itself for?

Related articles

• Is Network Marketing a cult? Good Question! The Answer is Yes (keep reading)
• The MLM Test by Rod Cook of MLMWatchDog
• How Much Can You REALISTICALLY Expect to Make With MLM?
• The Three Types of People Looking Into MLM: What You Should REALLY Know