Is Amway A Cult?

It’s a great opportunity to build a comfortable stream of income. You can make billions and become a mercenary like my brother.

Definitely MLM, but cult?

There's a thin line between the methods of con artists and those of cults, especially where money's involved.

My late bf did Amway in the late 90s, for about a month, and his mother called me all frantic, worrying that he was being brainwashed. This was the same woman who thought his grandfather's ghost had taken over his car.

My parents got into something called Fortunate or Fortunate You in the 1980s (which sounds culty). Similar pyramid to Amway. I think they did it for a couple months - including having a booth at the county fair - before they stopped. They must have been required to buy a lot of product because we used a lot of Fortunate products for a considerable period after they stopped. It was mainly cleaning products and personal products. I think there was dog stuff and also a snack component too.

All MLMs are cults. So, yes.

My mother had some friends that were into it when I was a kid. I remember lying for her when some of them would call the house.

Wasn't Shannan Watts selling some kind of MLM culty stuff?

I mean, MLMs aren't quite cults, but they do breed an atmosphere that makes people act in cultlike ways. The participant really needs to buy into the idea the leaders are selling in order to sell what they need to sell.

All those home sales kinds of companies - Tupperware, Longaberger Baskets, Tastefully Simple - all require salespeople to sort of embrace the story and sell it.

But things like Amway and Shaklee take it to the next level, for sure.

Who buys this shit?

Buying from Amway salesperson used to make some sense if you lived in rural community and your shopping options were limited unless you traveled to a large town with a shopping area or a to a mall. Today you can buy almost anything online, Amway should be a thing of the past, cult or not.

You'll shakedown two friends. And they'll shakedown two friends. And so on and so on and so on.

Aren't MLM companies especially popular among Mormons?

R12 Yes. Many MLM companies are/were started in Utah in part of lax laws regarding MLMs. Mormons promote MLMs as ways for moms to earn money from home while staying home with the kids.

I have a friend who is an ex-Mormon. Her dad was in the military for 25 years, so they moved around a lot. Her mom tried to selling MLM companies for several years so the family could have extra money. Eventually, her mom got fed up and went to a trade school to get dental assistant training and certification. The mom would work part time, but once all the kids were in school she started working more hours. Some of my friend's Mormon relatives looked down on the mom for working outside the home.

[quote] Wasn't Shannan Watts selling some kind of MLM culty stuff?

She sold Thrive/LeVel "nutrition products". She and Chris would wear those caffeine patches in pictures so she could promote her "Thrive" business. A lot of her videos and pictures promoting those crap products came off as cultish.

Another infamous murder victim who was involved in MLM crap was Travis Alexander. He was involved with Pre-Paid Legal which is now known as Legal Shield. He recruited Jodi Arias into the company as well. Pre-Paid Legal/Legal Shield was founded in Oklahoma. When the Jodi Arias was going on, the website MyDeathSpace had message boards and the trial was a hot topic there. Anyway, there was a poster from Oklahoma who worked at a hotel were Pre-Paid Legal held some of their conferences. She said that the PPL reps were very cultish. Any time hotel employees would go into the conference rooms to check on the group the PPL reps would all stop talking and would only start talking again after hotel employees left the conference room.

I am friends with a guy from high school (late 80's) & he got into Amway in the 90's. I went to a couple of meetings to support him & they were just WAY too culty & energetic for me.... He was sold & went whole hog. ALSO got involved in the PSI deal..... Oy, I went to his PSI graduation & again, I didn't take the bait. I moved out of state early 2000's & we always kept in touch, he always would tell me how well he was doing. I was like, yeah yeah Amway.... Selling soap & shit. Uh, no, come to find out- he's VERY successful in the Amway universe. Like top 10. Amazing home's, floating toys, they do crazy lux trips etc. Im truly happy for him. He's in an odd life cycle. His wife is an upper level Amway robot & his step kids are in the life as well. All lovely people, just..........

I know it's used for money laundering.

Sure, there are a bunch of suckers in the lower ranks. But in the top ranks, the money just rolls in without rhyme or reason—meaning if you look at their accounts, you see that the individuals never manage to make a profit as the cost of the product eats up all the revenue. Year in and year out.

It also has some connection—don't know what—to the old Soviet Union. (I.e. The old country)

Source: Worked as a low-level auditor in a tax agency.

Yes. And a pyramid scheme.

Amway is MAGAt to the core. Even 60 years ago. It’s like a MLM Hobby Lobby.

I love this scene from the movie "Go," where Scott Wolf and Jay Mohr think that they're being seduced for sex by a husband and wife who invite them over for dinner, but it's really an Amway-ish MLM scheme.

That is really interesting R16. Thank you for sharing. I never even considered that. I have never known a single person who bought stuff from Amway. They tried to recruit me several times in the 90’s, so I went to more than one pitch meeting. It seems completely obsolete now with online shopping. Is it still a thing anywhere?

Thanks --

I think all of these MLMs are laundering money. They often keep dropouts on the books, which artificially inflates their reported "revenue." I'm not sure how they evade detection, but the constant need for recruits suggests that they can only maintain these dropouts for a limited time.

Of course, it's fraudulent; fraud is everywhere. For example, if you want to sell a car without a title, it's straightforward: sell it to someone who has a mechanic "in the business." That mechanic will then send you a notice by mail instructing you to pick up your car. If you don’t respond, they can legally claim the car and secure a new title. All they need is the documentation that they warned you this would happen. What you were actually told: ignore all letters.

R19, I was going to post that scene but you beat me to it. Loved that movie. And Scott Wolf and Jay Mohr made a hot couple back then.

ALL Multi-Level Marketing is a cult.

R16 I thought the connection was to Christian Fundamentalists.

Why the Soviet connection?

The money laundering connection is interesting. It is for Russians under sanctions? Albanian drug traffickers?

There was a part in Michael Moore's Roger and Me documentary where a GM exec told people being laid off from GM that they could sell Amway for income.

I love their Iced Oatmeal cookies!

If I were to guess, r24, r25, the connection is organized crime. In the old USSR, organized crime was endemic.

My encounter with Amway had nothing to do with the sanctions -- way before. I was in grad school in the 80s (yes, I am old), and the USSR was still with us. Albanians - I don't know anything about them.

Had a coworker who got into that-sad. Always trying to sell lotions and shampoos and shit.