MLMs and Cults: The Ultimate Crossover

What do cults & MLMs have in common?

Thank you for subscribing to the Cult Community newsletter. Paid subscribers make it possible for this newsletter to share interesting and culty content each week. For only $5/month you can support independent writing that challenges the way we think about cults, race, pop culture, and history. Get full access to the CC archives today.

---

 In today’s post:

• Cult Adjacent Praise Trump?

• The Big Post MLMs and Cults: The Ultimate Crossover

---

Image Source

Praise Trump?

In “Unexpected Fandom” I wrote about the assertion that Trumpers (Trumpies?) are part of a cult. I was thinking a lot about how conspiracy theories were pulling people together and providing them a dangerous set of ideologies to bond over. The danger lies in fans' refusal to acknowledge that their favorite celebrity and/or political figure can be wrong. While this might seem like a matter of opinion on the surface, real people suffer the material consequences of conspiracy theories. Trump, a distressingly influential figure who helped to spread such misinformation was not held accountable for his lies. On a conservative social media app (that shall not be named), a fan called Trump the “only living God.” If his fans were not willing to hold Trump the person accountable for his lies and disinformation, they certainly won’t question the actions of Trump, the God.

---

MLMs and Cults: The Ultimate Crossover

In last week's Weekly Cult Roundup I talked about my current obsession with MLMs, which according to Dr. Steven A Hassan aligns pretty neatly with my interest in cults. In “Multi-Level Marketing Groups Operate Much Like Cults” Dr. Hassan argues that MLM recruiters rely on the same manipulative tactics as cult leaders. Of course this is not to say that all MLMs are cults or that they always become cults. The focus of this post is to understand how some MLMs cross the lines between profit strategy, pyramid scheme, and cults. 

Multi-level marketing business strategies ask sellers to sell products to their family and friends often from their home or online. These initial sellers might be referred to as independent distributors/contractors. Typically customers will be recruited into the business and will become sellers/distributors. As more customers are recruited to become part of the business, “…the people they recruit, and so on, become your sales network, or “downline.” In addition to earning money by selling products, sellers also earn by recruiting new independent distributors/contractors. MLMs are not illegal but many skirt the line between legitimate and illegitimate. 

But what about MLMs (legitimate or illegitimate) make them culty?