There are a growing number of resources about multi-level marketing and related topics which you may find helpful.
| Books | Documentaries & videos | Articles & reports | Podcasts | Activists, writers, researchers & groups | Events | International resources & articles |
Books
- Broke Georgia Goes Multi-Level, Donna Fernandez (fiction!)
- Combatting Cult Mind Control, Steve Hassan
- False Profits: Seeking Financial and Spiritual Deliverance in Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes, Robert FitzPatrick
- Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Thoughts and Beliefs, Steve Hassan (we especially recommend this book if you are wanting to help a loved one who is caught up in an MLM)
- Influence: Science and Practice, Robert Cialdini
- Merchants of Deception (Amway), Eric Scheibeler (free download)
- Marauders of Hope, Aruna Ravikumar
- Multi-Level Marketing Unmasked, Jon M. Taylor (free download)
- Ponzinomics, the Untold Story of Multi-Level Marketing, Robert Fitzpatrick
Documentaries & Videos
- The American Dream Denied: Herbalife Victims Speak Out, Facts About Herbalife
- Anti MLM Information from an Ex # BossBabe, Monica Siembieda
- Betting on Zero (Herbalife and Bill Ackman), Zipper Bros Films
- Door Knockers: Arbonne, The Checkout, ABC TV
- Ellie Undercover: Secrets of the Multi-Level Millionaires, BBC Three (UK only)
- Get Rich Quick, The Feed VICELAND, SBS
- How to make money in Arbonne (parody), münecat
- How to Spot a Pyramid Scheme, Facts About Herbalife
- How to Spot a Pyramid Scheme, Stacie Bosley, TED Ed
- Are make-up empires exploiting mums?, BBC Stories (cut down version of the Ellie Undercover documentary)
- I quit dōTERRA and WHY, ButtercupDragon Mac&Cheese
- If You’re My Friend Then You’ll Buy This (parody), Leeann and Michelle
- LuLaRich, Julia Willoughby Nason &Jenner Furst, The CinemartStory Force Entertainment for Amazon Prime
- Multilevel Marketing, John Oliver, Last Week Tonight
- Multi-Level Marketing Schemes, Samantha Bee, Full Frontal
- Multi-Level Marketing: Opportunity Knocking, The Checkout, ABC TV
- Multi-level marketing (MLM): Supporters vs Critics, BBC Stories
- Multi-Level Marketing Companies Do Not Belong At Craft Fairs! SAVY Writes Books
- The Cult I Almost Joined — Young Living Essential Oils, Genetically Modified Skeptic
- The Secrets of Making Money on Social Media Through Multi-Level Marketing, Ellie Undercover, BBC
- The truth about multi-level marketing (MLM) pyramid schemes | psychology behind networking marketing, Dr Becky Spelman speaks with Josie Naikoi, Private Therapy Clinic
- Why I quit the MLM industry at the top, Not the Good Girl
- Why Women Are Quitting Their Side Hustle: Leaving LuLaRoe, VICE
(A partial list)
Articles & reports
- $5 jewelry and an MLM conference gone wrong, Emily Stewart, Vox
- 6 Reasons Why MLM Companies Are the Absolute Worst, Dani, Travelling Jezebel
- Hey Hun! In women’s joblessness, multi-level marketers saw opportunity, Bridget Read, The Cut
- Buckinghamshire woman earned £1.17 an hour in Mary Kay, Eva Tawfick, Daily Mail Online
- The Case (for and) against Multi-level Marketing, Jon M. Taylor
- Coercive Techniques in Business Opportunity Cults, Douglas M. Brooks (conference presentation, ICSI conference, 2019)
- Counseling Considerations for Clients with Experience in Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) Companies and Similar Groups, Haley C. O’Bryan, Masters thesis (PDF download)
- COVID cash: Pandemic pressures may push more women to consider direct selling opportuities, Miranda Caley, Capital Current
- Decision-making and vulnerability in a pyramid scheme fraud, Bosley, Bellemare, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Vol 80, June 2019 (research paper abstract)
- Dear Friend Selling MLM Products, It Isn’t You, Mary Katherine, Scary Mommy
- The Eye on the Pyramids, Part 3, MLMs and Conservative Republican Infrastructure, Rick Perlstein, The Nation
- Gardaí alerted to illegal pyramid schemes operation on social media, Garreth MacNamee, TheJournal.ie
- Greenwashing: A Study of Arbonne International, Annie Ringelestein, Villanova Environmental Law Journal
- How MLMs and Cults Use the Same Mind Control Techniques, Casey Bond, Huffpost Life
- How the Pandemic Stoked a Backlash to Multilevel Marketing, Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic
- How to Get a Friend out of an MLM, Caroline Thomson, VICE
- Inside the “Toxic” World of Women Selling you Everything from Supplements to Skincare on Social Media, Amanda Garrity, Good Housekeeping
- ‘LuLaRich’ and pyramid schemes: 4 ways to tell if the company is a scam, Kerry Breen, Today
- The Internet is Starting to Turn on MLMs, Kaitlyn Tiffany, The Atlantic
- The Lies of the Bossbabes—How MLMs are Holding Back Feminism, Jessica Wood, Medium
- Multi-Level Menace, Denise Sutherland, Skeptical Inquirer
- “My Sisters Turned Their Backs on Me”, Inside the Rising Anti-MLM Movement, Amanda Garrity, Good Housekeeping
- Network Marketing: A Cult for Mums? Kate Dyson, The Motherload
- Pandemic Schemes: How multilevel marketing distributors are using the internet – and the coronavirus— to grow their businesses, Abby Vesoulis and Eliana Dockterman, TIME
- Pyramid Schemes, Scamwatch, ACCC
- Starving Artist? Don’t Join An MLM. Clarence, Pop of Colour
- The Five Red Flags, Jon M. Taylor
- The Nu Face of Pyramid Schemes? Richard Worth, The Overtake
- These Shopping-Oriented Pyramid Schemes Lure in Ladies, Then Steal Their Friends, Cash and Confidence, Kate J. M. Baker, Jezebel
- ‘They have you in a cultish grip’: the women losing thousands to online beauty schemes, Amelia Tait, The Guardian
- Uganda’s Health Pyramid, Priya Biring
- What does the DSA, the ‘regulatory body’ for MLMs in the UK, actually DO? Hannah Martin, Talented Ladies Club
- What got left out of LuLaRich, An interview with Meg Conley, Anne Helen Petersen, Culture Study
- What is an MLM-Hun? The #Girlboss Guide, Karie, The Snapping Point blog
(This is only a partial list — there are many more out there!)
Podcasts
- The Dream (essential listening!)
- A Little Bit Culty — Series 2, Episode 3: LuLaRich Girl
- Cult or Just Weird? — Apples, Oranges and Roses, Part 1; Apples, Oranges and Roses, Part 2
- Hey Hun, Want to Talk About MLMs? 1A podcast, NPR
- IndoctriNation (about systems of control in general)
- Life After MLM
- Sounds Like MLM But OK
- Sounds Like a Cult – Series 1, Episode 7: The Cult of Multi-Level Marketing
- Sounds Like a Cult — Series 1, Episode 13: The Cult of LuLaRoe
- Stuff Mom Never Told You — Women and Pyramid Schemes
- Stuff They Don’t Want You To Know — What is Multi-level Marketing?
- That’s a Cult? — MLM Schemes
- The Cult Vault — Episode 102 Multi-Level Marketing — Interview with Roberta Blevins
- This American Life — Wake Up Now
- Toxic Positivity
Activists, writers, researchers & groups
We believe in sharing the work of other anti-MLMers; however, inclusion on this list does not imply an official connection with or endorsement by the Coalition.
Many of those listed below have multiple social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook etc), which can be discovered via their links below:
- Anti-MLM Weight Loss Coach
- BeBe WB
- Bill Keep
- Bottlesoup
- BotWatch
- ChammyIRL
- Crownless Princesses
- David Brear
- Elle Beau
- Emma the Naked Typist
- Facts About Herbalife
- The Finance Guy
- The Fraud Files
- How LuLaRoe Failed
- Hunbot Comics
- Megan ZonaLife
- MLM and Other Annoying ‘Job’ Adverts
- MLM Boss Babe
- MLM Confidential
- MLM Debunked
- MLM Exposed
- MLM Intel
- MLM Lies Exposed
- MLM Riot
- A (MLM) Skeptic
- The MLM Syndrome
- MLM Watch
- Mombie
- Multi-Level Marketing Exposed
- r/antiMLM
- r/DefectiveDetectives (LuLaRoe)
- r/LuLaNo
- r/Youniqueamua
- Pink Truth
- Pink Victim
- Pinkwashed Nightmare
- Pyramid Scheme Alert
- The Recovering Hunbot (YouTube)
- Roberta Blevins
- Sounds Like MLM Science But Okay
- Stacie Bosley (Associate Professor of Economics)
- Talented Ladies Club
- Timeless Vie
- Truth In Advertising
- Unwash Your Brain
- Uzzies Uncensored / Amber
Events
Multilevel Marketing: The Consumer Protection Challenge conferences (2021, 2022)
Hosted by The College of New Jersey School of Business
Includes videos of conference presentations
International resources & articles*
Non-English pages on our website:
- French: Pourquoi la vente multiniveau (MLM) ne fonctionnera jamais!
- Italian: Marketing multilivello — non funzionerà mai
Resources elsewhere:
- AntiMLM Facebook group (Burmese)
- 傳銷難做 逾7成賺無錢 僅千分之3年領逾30萬 (Chinese)
- 挣个钱比赌博还难，竟然还有这么多人做！(Chinese)
- Amwey Business (Czech)
- Het Multi-Level Marketing Forum (Dutch)
- Going against the slippery slope of a pyramid scheme, Hu Yongqi, China Daily (English, about China)
- Scam artists take advantage of downturn in China’s economy, Calum Macleod, ABC News (English, about China)
- Why China keeps falling for pyramid schemes, Eugene K. Chow, The Diplomat (English, about China)
- Corporate Frauds Watch, Shyam Sundar (English, from India)
- Marauders of Hope, (book website) (English, from India)
- Anti Lampe Berger blog (English, from Malaysia)
- Have Three Million People in Taiwan Joined a Business Cult?, David Vaughan, Taiwan News (English, about Taiwan)
- Taiwan’s MLMs Failing to Deliver, Steven Crook (English, about Taiwan)
- Anti MLM Movement Deutschland, Instagram (German)
- Direktvertrieb, Network-und Multi-Level-Marketing (German)
- MLM-Beobachter blog (German)
- La vente multiniveau, miroir aux alouettes 2.0, article in Slate (French)
- MLM: Ce qu’on ne vous dit pas, Facebook page (French)
- Trucs, astuces et motivation pour un mode de vie anti-arnaque Facebook group (French)
- The Dark Money, YouTube (Hindi, from India)
- Anti-Bisnis-MLM dan Bisnis Investasi Bodong blog (Indonesian)
- BUTAC — ” Una guida al network marketing (Italian)
- JuicePlus l’antitrust indaga sui prodotti dimagranti (Italian)
- Lyoness e il cashback: chiesti quasi due millioni indietro (Italian)
- MULTILEVEL MARKETING: come non farsi fregare | avv. Angelo Greco (Italian)
- Vendita piramidale e promozione ingannevole, sanzione da oltre 3 milioni a Lyoness (Italian)
- Usaha Negara China Dalam Membendung MLM Malaysia? Haiya!!! (Malay & English)
- O Esgoto do Capitalismo (Portuguese)
- Anti MLM (Esquema de pirámide) (Marketing multi nivel) (Spanish)
- Videos de MLM conferencias (Spanish)
* Arranged alphabetically by language. If you run an anti-MLM group or website in your country, or have links to online articles on this topic to share, please contact us. We are especially keen to add non-English resources.
Last updated: 28 September 2022