CULTS vs. MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING

CULTS vs. MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING -- Let the Consumer Beware

(Based on Robert Lifton’s Criteria for Totalistic/Cultic Groups)

by Sharon Colvin

Cultic Maneuver	CULTS	MLM’s
1. Milieu Control	Heavy milieu control; cults need to isolate you from your friends and family and gain control and influence over your life; they also need this to stifle your critical thinking abilities	Less control over your environment, yet attendance at meetings is considered crucial and heavy exposure to higher ups as role models in the group is standard; maybe it’s more the power of influence rather than control of the environment
2. Mystical Manipulation	Cults have to show that the leader has special, magical powers; he or she is omnipotent; knows all and sees all. This is done to gave them more credibility at whatever they claim to be. They have to demonstrate that they are spiritually superior to their followers.	Not mystical so much as tendency to make false claims -- you’ll lose tons of weight; you’ll never get a wrinkle; you’ll get RICH selling this !! In cults, it’s the Leader who is magical and extraordinary -- in MLMs it’s the product. You can’t LIVE without this product! And you’ll get RICH selling it. (“Statistical manipulation”)
3. Sacred Science	Cults are based on some kind of “sacred truth” that is exclusive to that group alone. Only they have the secret knowledge about the destiny of the human race, or the sacred secrets of the past -- it’s part of their exclusivity. You can’t find this sacred teaching just anywhere!	The “sacred science” in an MLM is more likely to focused around the sales schtick. We have the sacred healing herb, or skin care secret, or weight loss product. Nothing else on the market comes close! And you’ll get RICH selling this -- you can retire in 5 years (-- if you don’t plan to be “average”).
4. Loaded Language	Each cult has it’s own language; ordinary words take on new meanings outsiders cannot understand. It’s a special encoded language. It’s all a part of the plan to reprogram your thinking.....	In MLM’s the sales schtick often has loaded phrases that carry extra weight, but words would not be cryptically as redefined and encoded as they might be in a cult. They also want to recruit lots of outsiders, so they have to look and sound fairly mainstream
5. Demand for Purity	In cults this is done to gain control over followers and to weaken them physically, emotionally and mentally. It’s done to make them feel like less than who they are, and they must purge themselves constantly because of their unworthiness.	Depends on MLM -- around the issue of diet and health foods, this could be very extreme. It’s not acceptable to use a product OTHER than what the MLM is selling! It becomes a measure of loyalty to the organization, you must use their products, follow their advice/lifestyle.
6. Cult of Confession	As part of wearing you down as a person, your right to individual privacy is stripped away through the process of confessing your sins constantly to higher ups -- this is supposed to be good for you and aid in your “purging” process.	Depends on MLM -- in less healthy ones, confessing your “sins” could be expected behavior. If this is encountered in an MLM, this is NOT a good sign. Where there is a tolerance for people being humiliated in front of others, no respect for the Individual is present. Someone is trying to gain control over the Individual.
7. Doctrine Over Person	In cults, the Mission/Doctrine is always more important than the needs of the person. The person is expected to sacrifice all personal needs for the good of the group/the cause. They will be ridiculed and punished for anything less.	Depends on MLM -- could be a very sick group where the “Great Commission” and sales goals of group takes over individual needs. Could be that sponsor pushes individual to sacrifice more and more the way a discipler might do to a follower in a cult.
8. Dispensing of Existence	Cults establish an Aus vs. them” mentality of the outside world. They decide who is “saved” and who is not. You are special only if you belong to this chosen group; if you are not of the group, you are part of the evil, outside world. There is no life outside the group; only a void – and your life will come to an end if you leave the group.	Hopefully, most MLMs are not as radical as cults in this regard, but there could still be such an allegiance and loyalty expected that to leave the group might seem like a big deal to them, when in fact it isn’t. If you are loyal to the product and the network, you wouldn’t leave -- even if personal goals weren’t being fulfilled, you would stay on to try harder, do better, and of course, support your “downline.” Somehow, if your expectations for what you hoped to achieve fall short, it’s YOUR fault, not the fault of the person who recruited you and fed you lies about geting rich.