Some of my favorite YouTube content creators are those who make anti-MLM (multi-level marketing) videos. What is an MLM? According to a recent article by Forbes:

Multilevel marketing companies use people rather than outlets to sell their products to customers. This puts the responsibility for the sale in the hands of networks of independent distributors.

In the MLM model, distributors are not employees of the company. Instead, they are individual business owners recruiting their own networks of distributors to help them sell products. Multilevel marketing companies rely on this extensive network of independent distributors to generate revenue.

This is also sometimes called “network marketing”, and many see it as another version of a pyramid scheme. MLMs and pyramid schemes are more or less the same thing, and at the very least certainly have similar structures, although the FTC deems pyramid schemes illegal while stating that MLMs are not. That same Forbes the article explains:

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), “If an MLM isn’t a pyramid scheme, it will pay you based on your sales to retail customers, without having to recruit new distributors.” Pyramid schemes, on the other hand, rely on continually recruiting paying members to stay afloat, even as they force members to keep buying products they may not be able to sell. For an MLM to be compliant (i.e. legal and not pyramid) it must adhere to the 70% rule that “at least 70% of all goods sold must be purchased by non-distributors” .

No matter what you call them, and even if they walk the fine line between legal and illegal, more often than not, if you join one, you’re going to lose money no matter what MLM recruiters show up in your inbox. reception with a “hi girl!” to tell you. Forbes goes on to explain:

At first glance, multilevel marketing companies might seem like a great way for individuals to become “captains of their own ship” as business owners, creating income from products they believe in.

But the truth is that 99% of people who participate in MLMs lose money, according to the Consumer Awareness Institute, as they struggle to resell products and recruit members for network marketing companies that often border on illegality and hide the true costs of participation. some participants.

Additionally, the tactics used by some MLMs can have a psychological, as well as financial, impact on distributors.

I’ve been interested in consumer education for years and have studied consumerism during my academic career, and it’s clear to me that some of the best critical consumer education and advocacy work is currently being done by anti-MLM content creators. One of my favorites is CC Suarez. For a few years now, she’s been diving deep into the MLM industry, exposing how they prey on consumers, discussing how they’re selling a “lifestyle” that doesn’t really exist (except maybe for a few lucky at the top of the companies) and explaining the tactics they use to recruit members and keep them trapped in the system. She’s also really funny, sarcastic, and brilliant, which is all I find winning in my book.

She recently posted a video about a new MLM called Elomir, which was founded in 2021 but only recently started gaining traction on social media. Elomir describes himself as follows on his website:

Pursue the life of your dreams with ELOMIR! ELOMIR philosophy is built on a foundation to let people better. Through the ELOMIR opportunity, our primary focus will always be the customer and brand partner experience. Our culture is focused on ensuring that as a consumer and/or brand partner, you not only benefit from innovative and impactful products, but also first-class service from our corporate team and our leadership on the ground. We strongly believe that you should be able to pursue the life of your dreams. Our tagline is not a gimmick – our opportunity has been specifically designed to support your quest to Live Your Best and Unleash Your Potential.

Over the past few weeks, “Brand Partners” who have signed up with Elomir have been massively recruiting new participants all over Instagram and other social media platforms. Elomir has one product so far, a strip of yellow vitamin gel that you put on your tongue to dissolve it (much like one of those Listerine breath strips). It’s called Axis Klörity, and on the Elomir website, you can see that a box of 30 dissolvable strips sells for $89.00. However, you can also see that if you click on the link to buy the product, it is not available.

The only option currently available to engage with Elomir is to register to become a distributor. In CC Suarez’s video, she highlights a video of one of the current distributors introducing the company, and the distributor claims that in the past week, Elomir has made $1 million in sales. So if the product is not available to consumers, these sales are literally only for new hires who buy the product so they can be “brand partners”. In other words, Elomir distributors are rapidly building their downlines but currently not selling anything to customers.

Plus, many distributors who are now trying to recruit more distributors (remember that building a downline is how you make the most money in MLMs) don’t even have any products themselves , and many promote the product by posting selfies. and other photographs of themselves with fake products – they literally hold tiny yellow post-it squares and pretend the post-its are actually the vitamin strips. Many have never tried the product, don’t have it, and advertise pictures of counterfeit products, yet tout the virtues of the product and try to recruit others to join a company that sells the product. It’s all pretty wild. Elomir also blows up online news sites with promotional ads disguised as product reviews.

Is it a real business? Will their product ever be available? Does the product exist? Are the people at the top going to run away with the money they made after revealing that the product is somehow permanently stuck in production? I have no idea, but that’s the one I’ll be looking at. And PLEASE, if you have your say, don’t let your friends and family sign up for this “opportunity”. If the company has to say “our tagline is not a gimmick”, you should probably run the other way.