BuzzFeed makes absurd claim about MLMs
December 13, 2021
According to BuzzFeed, the problem with multi-level marketing companies, or MLMs, is that folks do it for reasons other than mere money. They actually enjoy the social aspect of the process, have fun even.
This is, according to Stephanie McNeal, exactly what makes MLMs so dangerous and so terrible. In fact, it gets worse than this, such is the dripping condescension of the piece. Those who do MLMs might actually get to like the upgraded lifestyle, and wouldn’t that be terrible?
We are not joking here, nor are we misrepresenting the hot take. BuzzFeed really is stating that MLMs are bad because folks from Flyover Country might enjoy going to Cancun.
The subhead proclaims the attitude, “The people who are drawn to LuLaRoe are in it for more than just making money. And that’s what makes MLMs so harmful.”
What, people might have fun while they make their money? Or have fun having made it? That is actually the argument too.
Sure, it’s possible to make all sorts of comments about MLM plans and schemes. It’s not as if every one of them has been a shining beacon of total moral and business purity now. But the commentary comes from a LuLaRoe trip to Cancun for the top sellers.
Looking at the crowd, the reporter says, “All of this to say, the average LuLaRoe retailer is not someone who goes on resort vacations to the Caribbean. For them, and for most people in general, going on a trip like this is a semi-rare opportunity, and the excitement in the air was palpable.”
This is bad, apparently, that mere normal folk get to go to Cancun.
“Scrolling through the photos again, I was struck by the genuine gratitude shown by the women who were promoting the brand,” the article says. How dare they, don’t they know they’re being exploited?
“The experience of swimming in an ocean that was a color they had never seen before in real life, alongside their spouse on a trip they could finally enjoy. The experience of being welcomed by a group of bubbly women and finally feeling like they belong. The experience of feeling like they were part of something bigger than themselves. And of finally having a bigger purpose. These are the kinds of losses that also make MLMs so harmful to those who buy into them.”
Imagine, the people who should be mere worker bees being able to enjoy that satisfaction, that uplift to life, that only proper professionals and the privileged should gain from their work and careers.
BuzzFeed reaches some 60% of U.S. millennials, has perhaps some 3 billion content views a month and a global audience of as many as 600 million. This is an important media outlet. It’s also just had a fairly disastrous introduction to the stock market but that’s just something we like to repeatedly mention.
The entire voice used is that of an aristocrat wondering why the peasants might desire a day at the beach – isn’t a trip to the bowling alley enough for them? The 7/11 instead of a cocktail bar? Then some wonder why there’s a visceral hatred of the coastal media elites. Not that difficult to understand with attitudes like this, is it?