Multi-Level Marketing

OK so I have a friend who got into Multi-Level Marketing. She isn't the first! Over the years I've had countless aquaintences who sold Mary Kay, Arbonne, Avon, Pampered Chef, Homemade Gourmet, Silpada, Candlelight, Southern Living at Home, Uppercase Living, even sex toys, you name it, someone sells it. But this most recent one is jewelry. For some reason this scenario bugs me and I'll tell you why.

Multi-Level Marketing, or MLM, has always bugged me because the whole concept is a pyramid. Someone always makes money (usually the company, but there are enough "independent distributors" who are semi-successful that there is the appearance of success) and someone always loses money - namely the poor saps who buy the stuff that they don't really need, and the even poorer saps who get talked into selling the product, put their own money into it, and then eventually realize that once they have sold to all of their friends, there really isn't any place left to go with it other than to be obnoxious and start hitting up friends of friends and complete strangers.

But here is the deal with the jewelry. They actually claim God is behind their company. Not in a psychotic way mind you, but the woman speaking at the party said that when she prayed for a solution to wanting to be home with her family instead of having a traditional job, God told her to sell jewelry. (I've heard this same speech from the Mary Kay ladies, so I'm gathering that this is a common way to rationalize going into a business where your income comes, basically, from your friends' pockets.) And in the company's mission statement, the first statement is about serving God while selling jewelry. I don't recall the exact wording, and I can't check it because you aren't allowed to leave the party with the catalog. But I'm pretty confident that there are plenty of ways to be in service to your fellow man that would rank more highly than selling stuff people don't need (even really beautiful stuff, and it is really beautiful stuff) to people who probably have bills to pay, credit card debt, and kids' college to save for. I can't see how talking your friends into making poor spending decisions is a Godly thing to do. Maybe if you really want to be in service to your friends, you should share tips with them on how to be frugal...but I digress.

Now with any kind of MLM, the money doesn't fall from the sky. While you are busy earning free gifts and stuff, you have to know that the money came from somewhere, and the somewhere is undoubtedly your own pocket and/or that of your friends, or your friends' friends. If you can buy 3 and get 1 free, you can be sure that the items were priced significantly over value such that the company is still making it's profit even after you get your freebie. If you can earn free product by hosting a party for your friends, then your friends' purchases were inflated such that they paid for your free stuff. Obviously. How else would they stay in business?

Now there are several giant problems with this thinking. One, doesn't the Bible say something about graven images, and also something about coveting thy neighbor? Well, selling jewelry to women on the pretense that they need beautiful jewelry to feel good about themselves is merely a cleverly-disguised statement that material possessions and physical beauty can bring you happiness. What would Jesus have said about:
Happiness?
Physical beauty?
Material posessions?
Think about it.

Interestingly, I'm the last person you'd expect to use the Bible to back up a point. But the folks selling the jewelry have God in their company, for goodness sakes. I don't suppose God is too happy about all the stuff he is said to endorse...wars, football teams, even multi-level marketing.

To veer off topic a bit, one of my issues with organized religion (OK, namely Christian religions) is how people who are supposedly religious seem to find ways to rationalize stuff like this. They are all about taking the Bible literally, except where it doesn't suit their needs. And they still think they're better off than non-Christians. As far as I can tell, most of what the Western world stands for is an affront to what Jesus stood for. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

Bottom line about Multi Level Marketing - if it can't be purchased at Wal-Mart, you probably don't really need it!