The sexism and elitism tied to MLMs

                                               
                                                   ***********disclaimer**********

I have never personally spent a nickel on multi level marketing products or businesses, I am just annoyed as you are at the vague sales pitches or when you get invited over for a social visit only to discover you're being sold a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to sell snake oil, and I ignore 99% of the Facebook posts. But my wife is involved with a direct sales company and is doing remarkably well and I can't help  but be very proud and supportive of her hard work, even if it's at the cost of annoying some of our friends. These are my biases. Continue to read if you dare.

Here we go. So first things first, I believe that people have the right to be called what they want to be called. My name is Zac. Please call me Zac. The Canadian indigenous wish to be called First Nations etc. Some people complain that this is political correctness gone wild, I think that it's just common courtesy to call people what they wish to be called. Most people involved in these types of businesses refer to the industry as 'direct sales', so what does it hurt to call it that? If you want to call it a pyramid scheme then go for it but then we need to be real about the "conventional" corporate American "scheme". It's all a scheme. But that's a topic for another day.

There are plenty of reasons to be suspicious of direct sales companies. There are questions you should ask about the product, the business model, the compensation plan, etc. and very few companies will pass my litmus test. That being said, much of what is said in denigration of direct sales companies packs sexist and elitist undertones and that is what I wish to point out today.

Exhibit A - The Gullible Woman

Many direct sales companies are ran by and targeted to women. Stay at home Moms, working Moms, and single ladies alike are drawn to the idea that they could contribute to their current situation without having to sacrifice as much time with what's most valuable to them. Now I'll be the first to observe that many in direct sales companies do not end up reaching this goal or at least not to the extent they were hoping for when they signed up on day one. But many women will succeed in this model and improve the quality of life of them and their families. Detractors frame direct sales as being full of foolish, desperate, and weak-willed women looking to make easy money as opposed to the conventional and honourable way of a professional 9-5 with your kids in daycare 50 hours/week. To each her own but I'm saying that criticisms of direct sales should revolve around its business practices and products rather than the honest working women who promote them. I can't help but think that if roles were reversed and men were the ones who typically stayed at home, that if they found a way to make money through selling hockey cards to all the other stay at home Dads it would be seen as enterprising rather than desperate. Countless women have found a way to earn respectable incomes, increase self-esteem, and gain positive relationships through this 'scheme' all while being criticized as gullible women who will fall for whatever get-rich-quick ploy. Sure a lot of women "fall for it" in the same way that we have all "fallen" for the idea that every individual needs a cell phone or that every room in our house needs a big screen t.v. All commerce is about finding a way to transfer other people's money from their pockets to yours in exchange for something. This is just one way of doing that. Do some people, women included, need to show more caution and prudence when considering direct sales? Probably. But I think we should be cautious of labeling every direct saleswoman on our Facebook feed as a gullible sucker.

Exhibit B - The "I hate being sold to" argument

Mixing business and friendship is definitely sketchy and I don't recommend it to most but don't think for a second that your MLM pushing friends are the only ones selling to you. Read Daniel Pink's To Sell is Human Everyone is in sales. Most people on your social media are either subtly or not so subtly trying to promote some kind of cause, business, or ideology. I subscribe to Joshua Becker's Becoming Minimalist for example. When I share posts or quotes what am I doing? Every once in a while I do it so that I can refer back to it easily, but most of the time I share it because I think that other people would benefit from it. In essence I am selling that lifestyle and I picked it up because someone else shared it with me. And the more people that follow my lead, the more I get out of the movement. I gain likeminded friends who have similar goals and the movement keeps spreading in a sort of, pyramid like pattern. Everybody is selling you something and I do believe we should all be better at filtering the commercial noise but just because your friend is now making posts about this cream or that health drink doesn't mean you have to disavow them completely. If you parse it down, what we're really saying when we say we don't want to be sold to is that we don't want to be sold it to in 'that way'. A lot of us see ourselves as above this sort of business model. "Sure I'm in sales too but I sell to people who are making a conscious informed decision and walking through the doors of a 'real' business to buy my product." The modern marketing machine would have us believe that we are in control of our buying decisions but let's be real. Through whichever screen you're reading this now and the other dozen in your house, you are sold to at rates beyond your conscious awareness. Large companies have spent millions, billions even, subtly convincing you to make 'conscious informed decisions' to walk through their doors and buy their over-priced crap that you don't really need. So how is it that much better to be sold to the conventional way by greedy strangers as opposed to greedy acquaintances. I must say, it is not socially healthy when your friends leverage your relationship to try and guilt you into joining their team or buying their knives, feel free to call them out on it but at the same time, are there not certain services or products for which a testimonial from a friend should help our buying decision more than a marketing campaign? I think that by supporting quality services and products that just happen to use the direct sales model we are actually sending a message to the establishment that we are taking certain decisions into our own hands and rebelling in some small way against their marketing monopoly. In short, by saying you're sick of 'those' posts on your Facebook, check that it's not just because of your own elitist prejudice.

Exhibit C - Get a Real Job

In my last point I try to illustrate how we are all selling something and it can sound a tad snobby to look down on people who sell certain things in a certain way. In a similar argument I think we can be quick to judge certain forms of work. Lovers of the capitalist system are quick to complain about "leaches" who laze about while collecting welfare that us provided from the sweat of the back of those who work hard but curiously they are also often just as quick to rip into anyone who makes a living in a way that doesn't meet their standards. Not everyone is suited for a 9-5. I used to do door-to-door sales. I vehemently disliked it. As a result of my experience I refuse to do business at my door no matter how great a deal it may appear and I'm hard on that. That being said, I do my best not to look down on the 'poor souls' who must be so desperate for cash that they would descend to such shameful levels as to knock on someone's door and beg them to buy their product. You can say no without any of your elitist pity. I also happen to know that a good portion of those "desperate" door-to-door salesmen make more money in one summer than I ever will in a year. And so it goes with direct sales as well. It's easy to look down on their business as some kind of lower form of income but if it's working for them, what's it to you? My dentist makes more selling Rodan & Fields than she does in dentistry. Many "successful" people in the "traditional sense" have made or supplemented their wealth through direct sales. Good for them.


So in conclusion I am not trying to persuade anyone to quit their jobs and sell Mary Kay or anything but I can't help but comment on the vitriol that I see against this form of earning money. Often the criticisms are bang on but sometimes they seem unfair to women and snobby. If you aren't interested in this type of business then say no, even unfollow a few friends if your have to, but let them make their cake the way they know how. If you are interested in a direct sales opportunity ... well then talk to my wife Sarah. She's passionate about the product she sells and has become quite the mentor for her budding team.