Home  MLM Evaluations  MLM Consumer Guides  Non-MLM Income  MLM Products  Actions You Can Take MLM Research  MLM Statistics  MLM Regulation  Direct Selling/DSA  Worldwide Warnings   Utah  LDS  Foreign LanguageTranslations   MLM History  Short Articles  MLM Humor/Satire  Sponsor Credentials  Recommended Links   Contact 

CAI

Consumer Awareness Institute

Non-profit Corporation

HOW ARE GENEALOGY AND MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING ALIKE?

In recent years, a curious pairing of two seemingly disparate movements have grown together almost in tandem in some areas – interest in genealogy (“family history”) and in multi-level marketing (“MLM” or “network marketing”). This has been noticed particularly in that Mecca of Mormonism, the state of Utah. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Utah leads all states in the density of MLM firms headquartered there; i.e., there are more MLM firms per capita in Utah than in any other state. And Utah County leads all counties in the U.S.

The capital of Utah, Salt Lake City, is also the headquarters of the Church’s Family History Library, the largest genealogical facility of its kind in the world. The LDS Church spends an extraordinary amount of its resources gathering the records of deceased people throughout the earth, which are microfilmed and stored in huge granite vaults deep in the granite mountains east of Salt Lake City. This is because one of the core beliefs of Latter-day Saints is that families can be eternal and that in the latter days “the hearts of the fathers” would be turned to their children and the “hearts of the children” to their fathers.” (Malachi 4:5-6)

So what do genealogy and MLM have in common? Primarily their pyramidal or expansive endless chain structure. In genealogy, you have two parents, each of whom has two parents, and each of them two more, etc. So you have a duplicating progression of two’s –1-2-4-8-16-32, etc. If you go back enough generations, you have thousands of ancestors in your family tree.  In the other direction, you have children, each of whom have children (your grandchildren), and they their children, etc. This is referred to as your “posterity.” Over several generations, the number could total in the thousands.

With MLM, you have a hierarchy (or pyramid) of participants (“distributors”), beginning with the founders who recruited participants, each of whom recruited more participants, and each of them still more participants, etc. – until they recruited you. This is your “upline.” In the other direction, you would recruit participants, while encouraging each of them to recruit more participants, and they more still, etc. This is referred to as your “downline.”

 PLEASE HELP!  I believe this site presents information about MLM/network marketing that is as close to the truth as can be found. It can save you much time, money, and grief, as it has done for many others. And since law enforcement has essentially looked the other way on this type of consumer abuse, it is left to informed consumers to inform and warn their friends and relatives about the potential losses they could suffer from participation in a “recruiting MLM.” So please print and distribute at least 5 copies of the answer cards to those you care about – and ask each of them to share answer cards with 5 people, and each of them with 5 more, etc., etc.  . . .  In this way, you can influence many people for good – through an endless chain of truth-telling.  Click here to see these great answer cards (4 to choose from) that you can print and distribute now –  as well as carry with you for those awkward moments when you are recruited by a well-meaning friend or relative. For more information, click on the appropriate links above.

 Uplines and downlines are analogous to ancestral pedigree and posterity

The comparisons are so striking that some MLM’rs actually refer to their downline or upline as their “genealogy.” And I have likewise heard genealogists refer to their ancestry as their “upline” (which makes some cringe). To check this, do a Google search for "MLM an genealogy" and see how many sites come up – in the hundreds! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So why might some find the comparison between genealogy and MLM offensive? Genealogy is an infinite program in an infinitely expanding universe (the LDS view), while the other is an infinite (endless chain) program in finite markets. One is based on truth (the LDS view), while the other is based on deception – a mathematical trick used to deceive and defraud the unwary. One is focused on the salvation of families, and the other is focused on money. For more information on the deceptions inherent in MLM, go to www.mlm-thetruth.com.