SELLING THE DREAM

Chronicling the rocky road to the so-called American dream.

Peabody and Emmy Award–winning journalist and podcast producer Marie offers a biting exposé of multilevel marketing schemes (MLMs), triangular business structures that exploit people hoping to realize riches and success. MLMs, the author asserts, trade on the quintessentially American idea “that anything can be achieved through a combination of optimism and willpower.” If people don’t strike it rich through an MLM, they’re criticized for not working hard enough, not having the talent to sell, or not wanting it enough. For individuals who feel disenfranchised, lonely, or isolated; for those discouraged with their jobs; and for some lured by lifestyles of the rich and famous, MLMs promise not only wealth “but also freedom, community, and status. They’re promising autonomy and empowerment and the realization all of your dreams.” Marie offers zippy, shrewd profiles of MLM founders and sensitive histories of individuals caught in their web to show how—and why—these businesses persist. Such companies may market sex toys (Pure Romance), cosmetics (Mary Kay), household products (Amway), health supplements (Herbalife), or athleisure (LuLaRoe). “In an MLM,” writes the author, “the product being sold doesn’t matter”; the “key architects” make money from recruitment fees and sellers’ purchases of their own inventory. To make money, sellers must recruit other sellers, who need to amass their own inventories, aiming to sell to—or recruit—friends, neighbors, family, and co-workers. In Marie’s interviews, sellers confessed to losing thousands of dollars; besides inventory, they shelled out for company-sponsored seminars and motivational materials. Yet, the author notes, despite being confronted with lawsuits by federal and state agencies, MLMs continue to prey on desperate people who want to believe in a meritocracy, where “all you need is grit and charm to reap its rewards.”

Eye-opening reporting on a prolific scam.