Here's a good rule of thumb: When your boss goes out of his way to explain to you why exactly the company is not a criminal organisation then the company is probably a criminal organisation.

"Multilevel marketing" is to "pyramid scheme" what "enhanced interrogation technique" is to "torture".

just wanted to come back here to say that this segment literally saved me from signing up with an MLM today. heard the pitch, it sounded innocuous at first, then recognized the signs from this bit. wasted two hours of my time, but i got out before they got any money out of me. i mean this very sincerely: thank you mr zazu.

If you have to pay in order to stay "employed" in any of these MLM Companies, then you aren't an independent contractor, you are the customer.

'I'm not going to swindle anyone. I lost but no one else is going to lose because of me.' - God bless that woman.

These poor salespeople will never understand. Because you're not arguing against their logic. You're arguing against their hopes and dreams.

This episode helped me and my husband and couldn’t be more thankful! We almost got sucked into Amway right around the time this came out. After everything I’ve learned since then about Amway and other MLMs, we seriously dodged a bullet.

A college professor, whom I respected deeply, tried to lure me into one of these. After he was laid off by the university (after teaching for 35 years, with a 40-year-long career in all of the best companies), I assume that he got dragged into these due to his severance pay. He then started contacting his formuer students with a "great job opportunity". As he was a dear and credible professor, many accepted to meet with him. I was one of these students who gave him the benefit of the doubt even after countless red flags during his pitch. At the meeting, he brings a second person (his "partner") who starts spewing all of the clichés, talking a lot but without saying anything. I just said I wasn't interested and left. Then I warned my college colleagues about what had happened. Two friends later told me this professor tried to recruit them a couple of weeks later. I feel sorry for this professor, to be honest. Disregarding all the awful ethical implications of recruiting former students to a pyramid scheme, it must have been extremely difficult for him after he was laid off.

Falling for a pyramid scheme is like becoming a vampire: Someone comes along and bleeds you dry, and if you want to survive afterward, your only option is to do the same thing to someone else.

That woman in the documentary clip is a FUCKING HERO. Holy shit that was moving. She said "I lost everything but it stops with me". That takes real, genuine, toes to tip courage and character.

This video popped up in my recommendations today, and I felt compelled to comment. I watched this the day it came out five years ago as a naive 23 year old, having heard of some of the companies but with no understanding of what an MLM was or how they operated. About a month later, I was approached at my job by a girl about my age asking if I was interested in "helping people". I thought it was some kind of volunteering gig at a food bank or homeless shelter; it was Amway. I'm usually a big pushover, even with people I don't know very well, but because I'd watched this video, I knew enough to be suspicious of this girl and to ask the right questions about the company, the products, and how they operate. I got away from that interaction without an ounce of the guilt I usually feel for being firm or for denying my people-pleasing nature. Thank you John Oliver and the Last Week Tonight team for helping to protect a young 20-something from making a horrible mistake. ❤

I got sucked into MLMs in my life and I'm so glad I'm over it. I used to gravitate towards health and wellness" MLMs. Melaleuca, Noni Juice, Market America, and narrowly managed to dodge Kangen water. I eventually ended up legitimately going into the fitness and health industry through getting a bachelor's in exercise science, nutrition, and certifying as a trainer. My heart sank at an MLM training for a weight loss product when the instructor (supposedly a certified health instructor) literally told the class that "muscle turns to fat". It was downhill from there.

I live in Utah, and it really sucks when you think you're making a new friend, and they just want to recruit you into their cult. Not that cult, the other one.

2 minutes in, and it's starting to sound a lot like a pyramid scheme

My cousin lives in a poor developing country. her mother is constantly sick, and my cousin is trying to complete her nursing degree so she can take care of her mother and three younger brothers. recently my mother told me that my cousin has become a businesswoman! And she sells stuff! "Oh!" i said. "She makes and sells her own products?" "No" she answered. The conversation stopped there and I didn't give it another thought. Fast forward a week and I dust off my account on facebook only to see my feed filled with posts from her telling everyone how amazing this company is, and that you simply MUST join! Post after post, trying to convince others to join the "family" and "sisterhood". I don't speak her language so I contact my mother and inform her that my cousin might be involved in an MLM. Turns out my cousin had taken a bank loan to afford the "starter pack", shes trying to sell her products but every potential client thinks it's too expensive. She said she did this because she wanted to help her family, she is the breadwinner of her family. I'm FUMING and so SAD that she got herself involved in this. But she is the target for these companies, she is young, poor and dream big.

Coming to this very late but it's brilliant. Here in Bulgaria, someone I know conned me into buying a stupid box of those Herbalife pills. He simply opened a new container, pulled a pill out and told me to try it out, then charged me the equivalent of 25 dollars for a useless product. There's another loss that's not mentioned, that of relations, friends and acquaintances who get pushed to accept a product or a scheme they don't want and go right off the seller.

An MLM CEO running out on stage to a song with the lyrics 'I wanna watch you bleed'. Very subtle

A 30 minute John Oliver video? It's christmas, people.

I had a friend in college who maxed out her credit cards because of Mary Kay. It's scary because I found out by just being invited to a "make-up party"; they aren't even honest about it being a sales pitch. I literally thought I was just going to get makeovers with my friends (maybe that was a bit naïve, but I was only 20), and I felt really uncomfortable when I realized she was selling the makeup. Even though I knew the company was BS, I still bought a few things despite the fact that I don't wear make-up on a regular basis because I felt like a crappy friend if I didn't.

Please do this again, my middle age mother has become obsessed with this crap and is buying boxes and boxes of candles. I've told her it's a scam but she won't listen.

I think Norway has the right approach: any business where 50% or more of the revenue comes from recruiting more members is declared an illegal pyramid scheme. Practical, easy to understand, fair, and reasonable.

I read somewhere on some other youtube video "if you have to pay to work at the company, you are not the employee, you're the customer."

As a desperate college graduate some 15 years ago, I joined GNLD. The sales pitch was so perfect that I borrowed the registration fee (about $50 at the time). Lucky I realized after registering that "being my own boss" would cost me 10 times as much to buy shit I'd have to start selling to everyone in my village. I miss that $50.

LOL. I'm watching this in 2022 and I WANT to send this out to 10, 20,50,100 people!!!!!!

Honestly selling actual drugs would be less risky and get more results than this.

Jon Oliver delivers a comedic TED Talk on a weekly basis

Shout out to the graphic designer that came up with the logo for Jizz. You are truly an unsung hero.

I remember growing up and having my family get involved with these schemes. Thankfully they never got to far into them, but I still have people close that keep doing this. Its both heart breaking and infuriating to me that these kinds of scammers can get away with this crap.

You really need to do an update to this story - COVID has let these MLMs run wild and the unbelievable volume of stealth Herbalife ‘nutrition’ cafes with shakes/smoothies and “loaded” teas is terrifying.

The only proper MLM with no fees for participating is infact drug dealing

In my communication class in college, we were allowed to give our first presentation on any subject. And one girl basically did a marketing pitch for the MLM she worked for. My friend and I considered signing up but we never did lol

What kills me is that the mlm-ers call themselves "business owners." If you aren't producing or making your product and, most importantly, pricing your own product, advertising it and selling it, YOU ARE NOT A BUSINESS OWNER.

i hate the fact that it targets vulnerable people, especially younger mothers and people with health issues that don’t have other options

The amount of pyramid schemes I've had to talk my wife out of is ridiculous.

How come i just watch this again & again over time, probably my favorite episode of LWT ? It'so over the top

I want this segment revisited with info on the new pop up shops they do, we have 5 in our local area selling shakes and teas and it seems outrageous. I think it’s a way to sell more product within the shakes and teas instead of it sitting in your garage in complete containers

"It's not a pyramid scheme, that would be illegal" "What do you call it then?" "A ziggurat plan"

“Able to work from home” doesn’t have the same desirable ring to it anymore does it? Hahahhahaha

Here because I just saved my friend from getting roped into a MLM. The person recruiting her tried to recruit me but I’ve been burned by these m f’ers before and called them out and blocked. I had to do a deep dive to send her info to back my disgust. Thank you, John! ❤

Holy hell, 35 million views. Nice job.

My daughter joins these things all the time. I think she's on her 4th one now. I keep telling her to stop wasting money. I sent her this. Let's hope she believes you.

If someone ever says to you, "I have a business opportunity for you" and/or there is a whiteboard in their living room, best leave...

My ex wife was wrapped into Young Living selling essential oils and it was truly disheartening. Never really sold many oils but made money off off people who didn't have money to stockpile product but had to. It was scary and sad. The insanity of the scheme ultimately led to the end of our marriage. Thankfully.

One of, if not, my favorite John Oliver episodes. I've seen this ten times at least

The fact you cant buy from a store and have to buy from other people make it sound like a drug dealer ring.

Those things are so pyramid shaped you can probably find a mummified pharaoh in there somewhere.

This video was very very healing for me! I love you John Oliver! This was 100% spot ON! I am glad I am out of this industry - even though many people come "after me" to sign up again....NEVER

Had a friend who told me she was considering a MLM. I showed her this and she changed her mind.

8k dislikes from all the people selling supplements on Facebook

"It's not a pyramid scheme....its a triangle of opportunity "

John in 2016: “Hello Beyoncé. I’m a big fan.” John in 2019: *Works with Beyoncé in the Lion King*

I was in an mlm called Cutco, they deliberately target highschool and collage kids and won’t give you cold leads, you have to sell to your family and their friends. It was heart breaking to ask my family for money I knew they did not have.

If you ever feel stupid, remember 13k people dislike this video

My girlfriend is dabbling into this with makeup. The sellers throw big parties and everyone does each other's makeup and then try to peddle their brushes and little shit, and then tell the girls, "Now you can throw a big fun party like this and even make a little money too!" I've always warned her it was a pyramid scheme. I can't goddamn bloody hell fucking wait to show her this video. GG as always John Oliver

I remember watching this back when it came out and never finished it...youtube decided to show this video on my feed and saw that I only finished half of it. I was 24 then....im 31 now. Man has life changed for me since then. I think I was watching this on my way to gradschool and totally forgot to finish it.

You aren't tested until a company you own and believe in is down 30-40-50% from its highs. You will question your conviction, your strategy, your process. The market has a way of finding your breaking point. Nothing tests your conviction like falling stock prices.

You're not a business owner. You bought a starter kit: you're a customer.

Pyramids are in fact graves, aren't they?

My dad wanted me to work for Amway like he does, and set up a meeting for me with one of their representatives in order to sell the position. Now, I had no idea what Amway was at the time. The representative said things to me like "You want to have a game console? Well if you work for Amway you can get all the consoles!" and similar stuff like that. I was fairly engrossed by the pitch, but then I spotted something on one of the presentation slides he was using: A small line of text saying "This is not a pyramid scheme". This one sentence immediately rang all the alarm bells in my head, and as soon as the meeting was done I went back to my room and searched up everything I could about the company, found out how terrible it is, and promptly proceeded to decline any following requests from my dad to talk with Amway any further. Thanks, Dad. You may be a Daily Wire watching guy working for a pyramid scheme who thinks that "men are invading women's sports", but you got me to learn about MLMs and how awful they are. That's the one thing I'll give you.

Man, John Oliver is such a legend 😂

I sent this to the woman I babysit for since she worked for Mary Kay. Next day, she quit.

Actual conversation during a introduction meeting where I unknowinly got dragged by a friend. "I knew a pregnant woman whose baby tested positive for down syndrome. She began drinking this and when it was born, the baby was no longer down syndrome" "are you telling me this product cures down syndrome?" "no, I'm just saying the baby tested for down syndrome and was born normal following consumption of this product" It removes chromosomes people.

Thank You John Oliver for this informative video. No more MLM for me.

Glad I saw this from someone in reddit! I was invited and confused about myself since I was just recovering from being absent semester... I was already suspicious during their seminar... Glad this made me understand more. I will decline them. It had been annoying because I was invited 3 times... Once online, twice by the same person at the mall on the small place☹️... Hope it stops.... My mental health is affected by their guilt tripping and hitting my weaknesses... They are forceful, consistent, and desperate since it is literarily true... The products are overprice and most of their income is from referrals...

The scary part is how they make you feel like it’s YOUR problem that you’re not making profit... they make you believe you must be a loser to not succeed in their “business”.

Please do another video on MLMs. They've been running rampant during COVID-19.

Fun fact MLM and Pyramid scheme are listed as the same thing on the FTC website

"not, not a pyramid" 🤣

As someone under 18 I’m lucky to have gained the knowledge that get rich quick schemes never work

Bottom line: If you need 40 people in your network to make a living, then only 1 in 40 people in that MLM can ever make a living.

very happy i saw this a few years ago, because recently this info became very useful to me. a friend of mine got sucked into an mlm recently and thanks to this video i was able to recognise quite quickly. i’ve warned her about it and am so thankful that i may have just saved her a lot of stress and money in the future

This is one of my favorite episodes. Shines real light. But somehow these companies continue

The single most amazing fact about MLMs for me, is that you quite literally have a higher chance of making money in Vegas than you do in any of these pyramid schemes, regardless of what they call themselves.

Do you want to be rich? Work your own hours? Be your own boss? Why don’t you try selling this great new product: COCAINE?

A "friend" who was having financial problems hammered me with a Beach Body pitch. I say hammered because he wouldn't stop talking, and I couldn't get a word in edgewater. I was embarrassed for him but it ended our relationship.

3:58 I was already thinking about commenting how MLMs are a mix of pyramid scemes and religion but you said it for me.

I almost joined an MLM a month ago. I declined it thinking that it would be to good to be true. I'm 18 so I didn't have any knowledge about the thing until this video popped up on my recommendations. Thank God. Edit: The MLM company is like if Netflix and Skillshare had an evil baby. My "friend" lied to me about making a last groupie before leaving. So I sat there at Mc Donald's for half an hour thinking it'll be a last hoorah, but well, there I saw him with some other guy in company uniform with a pen and paper. He lied to me and it did hurt my feelings. I won't be seeing my friends for a long time and as the last meeting, he thought it would be a great way for him to sell me out to some shady company. I'll never forgive him.

How is this still a thing ?

I was approached several times when I was in college to join one MLM scheme or another. I always felt that there was something that just wasn’t right about them, and I chose to focus on my studies instead. After watching this video and seeing how it can basically suck the life out of a person, I’m so glad I never fell for any of them. Also, the fact that NOBODY got the appendix and spleen is actually very sad 😢.

My missus has fallen for this, I told her flat out it’s a pyramid but it’s on deaf ears. I’m just watching at this point 😂

this video stopped me from making a HUGE mistake! i was approached by an MLM and literally when the guy was trying to explain it to me, I just thought of this video. Thanks for so much for this!

I'm from Germany (I'm currently using the Google translator) I contacted a former classmate via Instagram a few weeks ago after 10 years to talk to her about various topics. She was surprised and was happy at the same time. She asked me how I am. I wrote to her that I often don't feel well because I have epilepsy. She immediately asked me if she could help me. I was excited about this question because my former classmate was apparently very empathetic. I wrote to her that I am very happy about her question, but only my tablets can help me. The next day she sent me voice messages telling me that she had a product that had a "positive" effect on my brain. I gradually realized that she wasn't about me, just about her product ... I tried to convince my former classmate to drop out of this network marketing. Unfortunately it didn't work. In Germany we say "I was talking to a wall" ... now I have written to her that I will leave her alone and no longer talk to her. I am sad, but I know that it was the right decision. (I hope the translation was fine). Greetings from Germany

I've shared this video so many times. Still very relevant to this day. John Oliver and crew, thank you for this excellent program 😊

I belonged to a weightloss MLM. The lady that talked me into it promised me it was NOT a pyramid scheme by saying it was an MLM. I didn’t realize that was just a fancy way of saying pyramid scheme. I was young and naive, so I signed up and paid $800 for the weight loss kit. I actually made a lot of money the first couple of months bc sadly, I signed a lot of my friends up, but after that, not much. I was making so much money the first couple of months and promised so much more, that I quit my day job. But after the first maybe, four or five months my business dried up and I had to go back to my old $12 an hour day job. It was very disappointing. Thankfully I didn’t make any major life changing decisions, other than quitting my job. My husband was the real moneymaker in our household so it wasn’t a huge deal. We’re the lucky ones.

Germany banned VEMMA and prosecuted the Big Network pushers.

You know a business is fake when they focus on the process more than the product

Most life insurance companies are MLM’s as well. The “higher ups” make their money recruiting. The turnover is ridiculous in that business.

This really did save me from getting signed up for Advocares mlm, my sports coach was so convinced he could help me make money, i told him, "i cant spend my ebt on that" and he shut up real fucking quick , and i now keep his new students from getting sucked into the MLM

Everyone who's played Civ knows Gandi wouldn't go for a rock, he'd find a nuke.

So, nobody is going to mention the fact that Joe Nobody was presumably buried while still alive?

Gotta love rewatching older episodes!

In the early 2000's, when I was in my early 20's and newly married, I worked for a few different MLM's. I didn't know that's what they were called until I was older, but the 2 I worked for the longest was Avon and Home Interiors (which, I don't think exists anymore, the last I heard, they changed their name). I never recruited anyone below me. I worked for Avon because everyone I knew bought it and needed a new distributor. I did very well with Home Interiors. I signed up because my mom and a lot of my family bought their products and they were very expensive. My mom and my mother-in-law (who's since passed) both sold Home Interiors and actually had the same district manager and my husband and I had met as kids before we actually knew each other. I couldn't get involved with these new MLM's because I don't talk to enough people to sell the products 😂 (Edited for clarity)

It's not a pyramid scheme - it's a reverse funnel system.

My sister dropped out of medical school because of these schemes, its heartbreaking

I remember going to some meeting when I was 17 about how I was going to get rich. I got home and told my dad about it. "Sounds like a pyramid sceme to me." Was all I needed to hear.

Some of the best advice I've ever heard: if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

I feel with all the recruiting/preying on people unemployed due to Covid-19, the MLM people have been doing, this video needs a part 2. Showing how specifically vulnerable people are targeted, new MLM companies that are currently on the rise and some of the FTC crackdown that has been going on.

as someone who's parents did an mlm a couple years ago, this is crazy accurate

I once heard someone describe double black diamond ski slopes as for "experts with excellent insurance."

My God this is sad. I knew MLM was bad, but this video really drives that point home. If anyone has ever been roped into an MLM scheme, I’m sorry for the substantial financial losses you’ve incurred due to one self-absorbed, greedy, disgusting person.