What does vemma sell

The FTC investigation was aided by the offices of the attorney general in Arizona, South Carolina and Michigan as well the police department in Tempe, Arizona, where Vemma is headquartered.

There are 1, multilevel marketing companies operating in the United States, according to Fitzpatrick. Students dream of cars and cash but often get a rude awakening.

Simple rules of thumb to avoid being ensnared by a pyramid scheme. Sorry, your comment was not saved due to a technical problem. Please try again later or using a different browser. The orders were filed in the U. District Court for the District of Arizona on December 15, NOTE: Stipulated final orders or injunctions, etc. The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition, and protect and educate consumers. Then the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit, calling the nutrition company an illegal pyramid scheme.

The company sells nutritional supplements and vitamin drinks under the Vemma name; Verve, an energy drink; and meal-replacement shakes and weight-loss products called Bod-e. Vemma and the FTC reached a settlement in that lawsuit last week. Once enrolled in the company, Vemma affiliates set out to sign up other people. The more new recruits he or she enrolled, the higher the commission. Some of the people he signed up were unable to make money.

That line cuts to the heart of the multilevel-marketing industry. What came next followed a pattern that would be familiar to many who have been exposed to Vemma. Carlucci was first teased with a vague idea. The first goal is to get a target like Carlucci to come to a meeting, without actually calling it a meeting.

Carlucci heard enough to be intrigued by the pitch. His sudden success — three recruits in 24 hours! Carlucci was encouraged to make a list of everyone he knew. Each and every one of them would become a potential recruit. He went to local home events, where other leaders singled him out in the crowd. This is all just a lie. Carlucci would give out free drinks on campus in an attempt to get people to come to meetings.

He constantly texted — he now says harassed — people he barely knew, in an effort to get them to join. All the while, Carlucci had been advised to avoid telling his parents what he had been up to. After five months, Carlucci was flat broke. That was bad. What was worse was what had happened to his reputation on campus. In some ways, Carlucci is lucky to have run out of money.

Quitting is seen by Morton and others in Vemma as the ultimate failure. It was as if I was talking to someone in a cult. Because it has such a strong foothold on college campuses, Vemma has also become a test case for some professors. Its members have also attempted to classify the ways in which their fellow college students change once they join the company.

In response to this wave of criticism, Vemma affiliates have started an online counteroffensive. Some have created websites in an attempt to ensure that a simple Google search, often the first line of defense for worried parents or skeptical college students, returns more positive results.

This year, Boreyko announced that his company would no longer be known as a multilevel marketer, but as an affiliate marketer instead.