I have often wonderd why Salt lake City is home to all of these multi-level marketing scams-like Herbalife, and others of that ilk.
Is there something about Utah that allows people to set up “nutritional supplement” companies? My cousin was involved with a company out of SLC-it was called “malaleuca-something”. They featured cosmetics made with the extract of the malaleuca tree (tea tree oil). He lost his entire investment.
Anybody know more?
My answer to this question is the same I give to any questions related to Utah or SLC – Mormons!
Melaleuca…my brother-in-law and sister got involved in that. Never made any money out of it.
and on a similar note, why are all the Nigerian scams from Nigeria?
MLMs have always been big with the tightly knit Mormon communities in Salt Lake City to the point it’s practically humorous. Also Utah laws are friendly to MLM formation. It’s only natural that spin offs from MLM entrepreneurs that want to “roll thier own” would originate there.
It’s not a religious thing per se, it just that the cultural nature of Mormon relationship networks can readily be worked as MLM networks, and many do, and where you have quasi-ponzi schemes operating freely you will tend to have fraud and bankruptcies.
I’ve also heard that Mormon culture is friendly to ‘natural’ or ‘herbal’ medicines, meaning people are more likely to be receptive to things like Herbalife. I could be totally making this up, however.
When I lived out there I heard that it’s because a lot of folks are very open, honest, and trusting (which agrees with my observations) and that lots of LDS folks are used to honest dealing and handshake deals – which can get you in trouble if the other guy isn’t. I don’t know if LDS are more open to this than other folks, but others have observed the preponderance of pyramid schemes out there. Ed. Bagley, editorial cartoonist extraordinaire has a cartoon showing the Great Pyramids of Egypt (pretty much a picture you’d expect) side-by-side with the Great Pyramids of Utah (which shows a retreating car with bumper stickers for “HerbalCide” and similar such stuff)
OK, I’ve never lived in Utah, but AFAIK that’s about right. Mormons are trusting folks and many of them are way too willing to take someone’s word, especially other Mormons. And we have these built-in networks that people take advantage of, even though they’re not supposed to. (Like, I have a whole phone book of all the Mormons in my town, organized by ward. It says right in there that you can’t use the lists for commerical or political purposes, but of course people do it all the time.)
We did once get Amway’d by some LDS friends. I was stunned; I would never have expected it of them. I started kicking my husband under the table!
You don’t get it as much out here. I don’t actually know anyone who sells noni juice or whatever the latest thing is. But you hear about it enough.