Nearly 1.4 million Canadians and almost 50 million Americans are involved in multi-level marketing. And that sheer volume of people makes it a near certainty that you’ve encountered MLMs in your life somehow.

The promise of financial freedom can be an intoxicating lure. But MLMs, like so many other cultish enterprises, are about more than just money. They’re about transcendence.

And in their wake, they often leave behind ruined livelihoods and broken lives. 

Featured in this episode: Julie Anderson, Amanda Montell, Robert L. Fitzpatrick, Marco Moukhaiber 

To learn more:

Ponzinomics: The Untold Story of Multi-Level Marketing by Robert L. Fitzpatrick

“'They have you in a cultish grip': the women losing thousands to online beauty schemes” by Amelia Tate in The Guardian

YouTube: @JulieAndersonvideos

YouTube: @AlwaysMarco

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticismby Amanda Montell

Credits: Arshy Mann (Host and Producer), Jordan Cornish (Producer), Noor Azrieh (Producer), Aviva Lessard (Additional Production) Annette Ejiofor (Managing Editor), Karyn Pugliese (Editor-in-Chief)

Additional music from Audio Network

Sponsors: Oxio, Athletic Greens

If you value this podcast, Support us! You’ll get premium access to all our shows ad free, including early releases and bonus content. You’ll also get our exclusive newsletter, discounts on merch, tickets to our live and virtual events, and more than anything, you’ll be a part of the solution to Canada’s journalism crisis, you’ll be keeping our work free and accessible to everybody. 

You can listen ad-free on Amazon Music—included with Prime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.